Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship
by Empress of the Eclipse
Summary: A strange first year with an attitude problem creates problems for Harry and Draco in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Contains hints of TAITO and will contain Harry/Draco. Slash, people! Re-updated with typos done but no added content.
1. For Every Door...

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship.  
Chapter 1 - For Every Door.....  
By Starrysapphire, Taito Empress  
  
Disclaimer - Digimon belongs to somebody, Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and Bloomsbury. I don't own either of them and there is no point suing me because I have no money and all you will get are empty chocolate raisin packets and fluff from under the bed. So don't waste your time. Oh and the title is part of a quote from somewhere but I'm nor sure where so thanks anyway.  
  
This fic is set in Book 5, Harry Potter and just after Season 1 Digimon. To make this work, we have to pretend that all the Digidestined learned English sometime. There are hints at TAITO (well, actually whacking great jabs at it). And eventually.... THIS FIC WILL CONTAIN HARRY/DRACO!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Also, character death and torture and a couple of other nasty things.  
  
Yes, I KNOW that in whatever-that-episode-was-called, the crests were destroyed and they discovered that it was all in their hearts, blah, blah, bliddy-blah. Well, this was written before I saw that episode and I couldn't care less, I'm not changing it now, it'll ruin half the story. So please suspend your disbelief and pretend that they kept their crests. Thanks.  
  
Matt stared at the English countryside flashing by. It didn't look all that special to him. He'd rather be back in Odaiba with the others.  
Stupid summer camp! Matt was blaming all his problems on that! When he'd gone to summer camp, he'd been expecting boredom but with the slight pleasure of spending time with TK. Instead, he and TK were sucked into the Digital World, along with Taichi Yagami (Tai), Sora Takenouchi, Koushiro Izumi (Izzy), Mimi Takihawa and Joe Kido. Later, they'd been joined by Tai's little sister, Hikari Yagami (Kari) There, they'd met their Digimon, little Digital Monsters who'd been waiting for them to arrive. Eventually, they had then discovered that they were the Digidestined and had to save the Digital World and their own world from destruction.   
Matt reached up and touched his crest. The Crest of Friendship. He'd promised TK he'd keep it with him even if the others at the school thought he was a sissy.  
The school....Matt scowled. After he'd returned from the Digital World, he'd thought his problems would be over. No such luck. For one thing, he'd suddenly become aware of his growing affection for Tai. He'd noticed it in the Digital World but he'd been able to ignore it, to a certain degree.  
But when they'd returned to the real world, Matt had realised that the feelings weren't going to go away. In fact, they were increasing daily. He missed Tai all the time and Matt couldn't help wondering if his feelings for Tai went beyond friendship.  
Then, the letter had arrived.  
Dear Mr Ishida,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England.  
In another letter, specially enclosed for his parents, it was explained that normally Hogwarts didn't extend their range as far as Japan but Matt had shown exceptional talent and as there was no official school in Japan, they would be happy to invite him to Hogwarts and even pay for his air ticket to get there and come home for the holidays. After long discussion, his parents had jumped at the chance.  
Matt had not been included in the discussion.  
So now, after buying books, robes, a cauldron, a tawny owl (called Ryo) and a wand (rosewood with one unicorn hair) Matt was travelling on the train towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
And he wasn't looking forward to it one bit.  
"Hi! Mind if we sit in here?"  
Glancing up, Matt saw two cheerful looking girls. One was dark skinned with long black hair that fell to her waist. The other was smaller with blonde hair and blue eyes.  
"Sure, go ahead," he said.  
"Thanks!" the dark skinned girl said "Are you new?"  
Matt nodded.  
"So are we," she said "I'm Abetzi Littlewood and this is Talitha Lions. What's your name?"  
"I'm..." Matt was about to say Ishida Yamato but he remembered that in England, they put their surname last "I'm Yamato Ishida."  
"Yamato," Abetzi repeated "That's a nice name. Do you have a nick name? Everyone calls me Abby because Abetzi is too long for everyday."  
"Matt," Matt said, wishing that the girl would shut up and leave him alone.   
"Are you pure blood or half or Muggle born?" Abby asked.  
"What?" Matt said, beginning to feel very much out of his depth.  
"Sorry. You must be Muggle born then," Abby said "A Muggle is what we call non-magic users. If you're Muggle born, there aren't any other magic users in your family or at least, not for a long time. Half bloods are where one parents a wizard or witch and the other's Muggle. And pure blood is where both your parents are magic. I'm pure blood," Abby said.  
Matt stared at her. Abby had barely breathed in that sentence.  
"I'm half blood," Talitha said softly "My father's a wizard but my mothers a Muggle."  
"Do you know what House you'll be in?" Abby asked Talitha.  
"I'm not sure but Mum thinks I'll be in Gryffindor."  
"I don't know either but I do know that my Mum'll kill me if I'm in Slytherin!"  
Matt tuned the girls out and went back to staring out of the window, thinking about the others. More than anything, he wanted to go back home. Even the Digital World was preferable to some strange school where they learned magic. Magic! What on Earth could you do with magic? Matt was sure it was some sort of mistake and he didn't have any talent at all. And being so far away from his friends...how was Matt supposed to carry the Crest of Friendship with none of his friends around him?  
"Hey, what's that?" Abby demanded suddenly.  
Matt realised that he'd been absent-mindedly playing with his crest as he'd thought about everything and it was in plain view. Curiously, Abby reached out and before Matt could stop her, she caught his hand, looking at it.  
"Isn't it strange?" she said "Can I have a closer....OW!"  
Matt jerked his hand away and slapped her across the face. Abby gave him a shocked stare, her cheek bright pink.  
"Don't you touch it again!" Matt shouted "It's mine and it's private! You hear?"  
"Well there's no need to over-react!" Abby said sounding angry "I was only looking!"  
She turned her back on Matt and began talking to Talitha. Matt hid the crest again, making sure it was out of sight. He didn't want anyone else pawing at it.  
* * * *  
When they arrived, they were taken across the lake by a giant man named Hagrid. Abby and Talitha ignored Matt and he ignored them. Matt had to admit that the school was a little awe inspiring but he still didn't like it. They were met by Professor McGonagall who told them that they would be sorted into the Houses shortly. They were then led into the main hall where the others were and sang at by a hat. Matt was surprised that he didn't find this surprising. He couldn't help feeling nervous about putting it on his head after it had sung at him. He listened absently as McGonagall read out the names until she eventually shouted.  
"Ishida, Yamato!"  
Matt walked up to the stool and put the hat on his head.  
"Hmmm," a little voice remarked in his ear "Oh this is interesting....very interesting. Very difficult too.....Courage, I see courage.....but friendship is more important to you.....There's talent, oh lots of talent.....but there's darkness, oh dear, plenty of darkness, even if it is lighter than it once was....and lots of anger, oh yes, plenty of anger in here.....and love and affection in plenty, although very deeply buried....so, where to put you?"  
"I don't care," Matt thought at it "Put me wherever you like."  
"Don't care, hmmmmm," the hat said "That's a pity....well, the obvious choice for you is Slytherin....but something tells me that Slytherin wouldn't help you grow and develop the way you need to.....certainly not a Ravenclaw.......not the right calibre for Hufflepuff either.....no, I suppose, for you, it had better be GRYFFINDOR!"  
Matt slowly removed the hat from his head. As he did, he distinctly heard it mutter "Oh, but I don't like the choice, oh dear, no..."  
Irritably Matt put the hat down and walked over the Gryffindor table, where they all applauded him. He sat down and looked around, then continued listening to the Sorting. To his annoyance, Abby and Talitha were both put in Gryffindor. When the last person was done, the food appeared. Matt nearly had a heart attack and vaguely wished they'd had something like that in the Digital World. Remembering several nights where they'd gone to sleep hungry made him feel hungrier than ever and he began to help himself, listening to other people's conversations. He could hear Abby's voice from where he was sitting, even though she was at the other end of the table.  
"Isn't she a chatterbox?" one boy sitting near him said with a snicker.  
"She's pretty too, isn't she?" another said.  
Matt remembered TK saying something about that to him about Mimi. He hadn't thought Mimi pretty and he definitely didn't think Abby was. Anyway, the remark wasn't addressed to him so he kept his mouth shut, except to eat.  
* * * *  
After breakfast the next day, Matt tried to work out how to get to his first class, Charms. He tried walking up a staircase.  
"OW!"  
One of the steps had given way beneath his foot. Matt looked down. While the stair looked like it was there, it clearly wasn't.  
Around him, people were laughing as Matt struggled to pull his leg out. It was stuck.   
"Here, let me help," a girl said. She had bushy brown hair and looked older than him. She and one of her friends (a red headed boy) pulled him out of the step.  
"Are there lots of steps like that?" Matt asked.  
"Not very many," the girl said encouragingly "You'll get used to it."  
She and her friends went on their way. Matt looked after them for a moment.  
"I'll never get used it," he mumbled.  
A wave of homesickness washed over him and he quickly continued on his way, blinking sudden tears away.  
* * * *  
By the end of the week, Matt had learned a lot about the school. He could actually find his way around parts of it without getting lost which was more than most of his year could do. On the other hand, most of his year thought he had an attitude problem and was a trouble maker. Matt had a feeling he deserved his reputation. He knew he had an attitude problem, he'd noticed it ages ago. And as for the trouble maker part....  
Matt had already been in four fights and had had two detentions. The most notable fight had been on the second day.   
He'd been coming out of a Transfiguration lesson, juggling desperately with loads of notes he'd been taking when he walked straight into another boy who was carrying a load of books. Both boys fell over and the books and papers went flying. Matt swore loudly in Japanese and began frantically gathering everything up. Glancing over, he saw that the boy he'd knocked over was older than him with a pale, pointy face, silvery blonde hair and grey eyes. He was looking incredibly annoyed.  
"Sorry," Matt said.  
"Can't you watch where you're going, you idiot little Mudblood!" the boy snarled.  
Matt had no idea what Mudblood meant but he knew it was rude because several people gasped and Abby (who had hated Matt ever since the train) said angrily "You should watch you mouth Malfoy, Yamato didn't mean to knock you over."  
Malfoy ignored her and glared at Matt who glared back. Then Malfoy picked up his last book and stalked away, flanked by two large boys.  
"Who was that?" Matt asked Abby.  
"Him?" she said "He's Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin."  
"What's a Mudblood?" Matt asked.  
"It's a rude word for saying you have Muggles for parents," Abby explained "It's dirty blood. See?"  
Matt narrowed his eyes.  
"Oh, I see," he said.  
Abby looked at him, slight worry on her face.  
"You don't want to start anything," she said "He's a fifth year and Crabbe and Goyle flank him all the time. Anyway, the Malfoy family have bad blood in them, everyone knows that."  
Matt nodded but he wasn't really listening. So he was a Mudblood was he? No one was going to insult him and get away with it!  
He got his chance for revenge in the afternoon. As he and a group of classmates were heading towards the Great Hall, Matt crashed into Malfoy again.  
"You again!" Malfoy yelled, looking infuriated "Learn to open your eyes Mudblood!"  
That did it. Raising his fist, Matt punched Malfoy full in the face. Malfoy sat down with a bump, blood streaming from his nose. Instantly Crabbe punched at Matt who dodged.  
"What's that matter?" he said tauntingly to Malfoy "Can't fight for yourself, baka?"  
Malfoy had no idea what a baka was but he knew it wasn't a compliment. Crabbe punched at Matt again. Matt only just managed to dodge this time. He knew that if Crabbe and Goyle got into him, he would be squashed like a bug. He also knew that there was only one place nearby where he would be safe. Before Malfoy realised what was happening, Matt was on top of him, wrestling with him. Enraged, he fought back. Matt rolled them over and over, making it impossible for anyone to get a good grip on them. Crabbe and Goyle couldn't get involved because they'd probably wind up hitting Malfoy. Also, large groups of Gryffindors had gathered around them, making it hard for them to move. Everyone around was yelling as the two boys punched each other.  
"WHAT IS GOING ON?"  
Matt and Malfoy were wrenched apart by a furious Professor McGonagall who glared at them both. She dragged them both down to her office where she shouted at them, took fifteen points from each of them and gave them detention. Then she sent them out.  
When they got out, Matt looked at Malfoy. He felt very satisfied to see that not only did Malfoy have a nose bleed, his left eye was turning a beautiful black and blue and he had a bruise on his cheek as well. Matt could feel his own lower lip swelling.  
"I'll get you for this, Mudblood," Malfoy hissed "You wait. You'll be sorry!"  
"Not half as sorry as you will be if you try anything," Matt hissed back.  
Malfoy stormed off in the other direction. Matt looked after him for a moment, then shrugged. He wasn't afraid of Malfoy. He was sure that he could beat him anytime.  
But Matt didn't know Draco Malfoy. He didn't realise it, but he'd just made an enemy and was making a mistake thinking that he'd get away with it.  
* * * *  
Some days later, TK received his first letter from Matt.  
Dear TK,  
This place SUCKS! I'm not kidding. It's incredibly big and it's taken me this long to work out how to get to the Great Hall to Gryffindor tower. Gryffindor is the House I'm in. There are four Houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. I've accidentally made enemies of every single Slytherin in the place because I punched this boy, Draco Malfoy. Apparently, he's very popular in Slytherin but all of the Gryffindors hate him and some of the older kids actually approached me and congratulated me on giving him a black eye. On the other hand, they haven't appreciated the other fights I've been in. And there have been several. Later, Malfoy's cronies got me and started giving me a good beating. Luckily, I was rescued by the Weasley twins (red headed lunatics in their last year) before they broke all my ribs. DON'T TELL MUM!  
How are you? And how are Tai and the others? I miss you all loads. I don't expect the others are even thinking of me.  
Inanimate objects are animate here. It's very strange. The pictures talk and go and visit each other which is slightly disturbing. I think they probably spy for the teachers so it's probably not a good idea to say that Prof So-and-so is a rotten freak around any pictures. On the third day, someone tripped me and this suit of armour started laughing at me! Well, no rusty tin-can was going to get the better of me so I kicked it downstairs. It really hurt my foot but it was worth it. Unfortunately, the caretaker, Filch, saw me, and threatened me with instant expulsion or being turned into a mouse for three hours so his cat could play with me. I was about to request expulsion but then Prof. McGonagall turned up, 'rescued' me and gave me yet another detention. Detentions aren't as boring as they could be but you do have to do some pretty weird things.  
Some of the teachers aren't so bad, but Prof. Snape is a nightmare and really hates me for punching Malfoy (I'd do it again in a minute and punch Prof. Snape too!). He's always giving me more homework for no reason! Prof. McGonagall is really strict but she's not so bad. Most of the other teachers are just annoying and one of them (out History of Magic teacher) is a ghost called Prof. Binns. He is the most boring person - sorry, ghost - on the planet and if I knew a way, I'd exorcise him!   
Everyone keeps going on about someone called You-Know-Who. I pointed out that I didn't know who and eventually someone explained that he was a dark wizard who everyone is scared witless of. He was originally defeated by a boy called Harry Potter who's in fifth year but apparently, he recently rose to power again and is wrecking havoc (don't worry though, I'm quite safe here) His real name's Voldemort. Naturally, I say it all the time now to scare everyone. Names don't scare me.  
  
The letter said some other things but they weren't so important. TK looked at the letter gloomily. He showed it to Kari in school. She read it, frowning.  
"Poor Matt," she said "He must be feeling lonely or something. I wonder why he doesn't mention any of his friends?"  
TK shook his head.  
"I don't know. He thinks we've forgotten him," he said.  
"Well, Tai hasn't anyway," Kari said with a little giggle "He's always going on about Matt."  
She paused and looked around.  
"TK," she said in a whisper "Do you ever think that Tai and Matt like each other in THAT way?"  
For a second, TK didn't get it. Then he stared at her.  
"You mean.....like THAT?" he said.  
"Uh huh," Kari said "THAT way."  
"I dunno," TK said "I mean, I always figured they were really good friends but...do you think Tai does?"  
"Well, he talks about him an awful lot," Kari said "And he got all huffy when Matt said in the letter that he betted we weren't thinking about him at all."  
The two looked at each, wondering.  
* * * *  
Matt finally began to settle in at Hogwarts, at least vaguely. He spent most of his spare time in the library, pouring over books, causing great confusion among his classmates as he never really tried in the lessons (most of them were sure that Matt knew how to sleep with his eyes open and he was always skiving off History of Magic). When he wasn't in the library or lessons, he was usually to be found staring out of the window in Gryffindor tower, his eyes far away. The boys in his dormitory had heard him crying out in his sleep, mentioning strange things and names such as 'Gabumon' and 'Devimon' and 'Etemon' and 'Myotismon'. Nobody understood but Abby and her posse decided that Matt was seriously disturbed and most people left him on his own. This was what Matt wanted. He didn't want their company. He stopped fighting so much although at least every other week, the gossip going round the tower was 'Matt Ishida punched so-and-so in year so-and-so!' Everyone got used to Matt climbing though the Portrait Hole, dripping blood and nursing bruises.  
Matt had all but forgotten Malfoy's grudge against him. Everytime he saw Malfoy, he made a point of glaring but it was instinct now and he never really thought about it. But Malfoy was planning revenge.  
He got his chance one day when he spotted Matt waiting to get into the History of Magic classroom. He was leaning against the wall, half asleep. As Malfoy looked at him, he spotted a chain around Matt's neck. Stepping forwards, he murmured a spell. The clasp opened and Malfoy stepped forward and snatched it.  
Matt felt the snatch and woke up in a hurry. Draco Malfoy was backing away from him with something clutched in his fist.  
"Well, look here," he said loudly "Little Yamato Ishida wearing a girly necklace."  
'Girly neckl - oh NO!' Matt thought, his hand shooting upwards.  
The Crest of Friendship was no longer round his neck.  
Malfoy was examining his treasure.  
"Pretty stupid," he said "What's it supposed to be? Some sort of Muggle design?"  
"Give that back!" Matt yelled "Give that back right now!"  
"Come and get it Ishida!" Malfoy said tauntingly.  
"GIVE IT TO ME!" Matt bellowed, lunging at Malfoy who playfully held it above his head. He was taller than Matt and Matt couldn't reach it "Give it back Malfoy! Give it to me!"  
"Say please," Malfoy said teasingly.  
Matt gritted his teeth.  
"Please give me my crest right now before I smash your face in!" he snarled.  
Malfoy snorted.  
"What's so important anyway?" he asked "It's just a stupid necklace."  
"You could never understand!" Matt yelled "Give it to me!"  
Malfoy looked considering.  
"Go fetch!" he said suddenly and threw the crest at the wall which it hit, shattering into tiny pieces.  
For a second there was a shocked pause. Then Matt raced over, dropping to his knees in front of the broken crest.  
"Oh no..." he whispered "Oh no, no, no...."  
Frantically he began gathering the shards together, knowing it was pointless. Some of the pieces were so small....   
Dropping the few he'd gathered, he began to shake. The Crest was all he had left of the Digiworld and his friendship with Gabumon. Now Gabumon would never digivolve again. And Tai would be so disappointed with him...  
Tears began to pour down Matt's cheeks. Hunching down, he cried into his knees.  
Abby Littlewood who had been watching realised what was happening when she saw Matt's shoulders shaking.  
"He's crying!" she heard someone gasp.  
Abby had never seen Matt cry. Many times, she'd seen him come though the portrait hole, bloodied and bruised from yet another fight. But she'd never ever seen him cry.  
For all she was a chatterbox and often quick to judge, Abby had a very good heart. Instantly, she stepped forward.  
"That was a rotten thing to do Draco Malfoy!" she shouted, her eyes blazing.   
Talitha had already rushed over and was carefully gathering up the shards. Abby went over and put an arm round Matt.  
"Don't worry," she said soothingly "I'm sure it can be fixed! Maybe there's a spell. Hermione Granger's very clever, perhaps she can do it...."  
Matt looked at her. His face was blotchy and tears were still running down his face.  
"You think?" he croaked.  
Abby nodded "Sure! Hermione's a terrific witch, there's nothing she can't do! At least, that's what everyone says. Talitha will get all the pieces, she's got really delicate fingers. You'll see, it'll be okay."  
Others were beginning to gather round now, picking up little pieces that Talitha had missed, glaring at Malfoy. Abby helped Matt to his feet.   
"C'mon Matt," she said "Let's find Hermione now."  
"We have to go to Charms," Matt said.  
"It'll only take a minute," Abby said "Anyway, you always bunk off lessons. You've been caught in the library loads of times! And what are friends for if not to bunk off with you?"   
"Friends?" Matt said.  
"Friends," Abby said firmly.  
Matt gave her a watery grin.  
"Thanks Abby," he said "It's so nice of you....and I've been so mean."  
"Yeah well," Abby said with a shrug "Pals now right?"  
"Right," Matt said, nodding.  
Talitha suddenly gave a yelp. Turning, Matt and Abby stared. The shards of crest was glowing brightly in Talitha's hands. Everyone backed away from her, looking confused. As they watched, the light suddenly increased. When it faded, the crest lay, completely intact in Talitha's hands.  
"Wow!" someone said.  
"That's cool!"  
"How did that happen?"  
Talitha handed Matt the crest. Quickly, Matt slipped it back under his robes. The door for History of Magic opened and everyone began to move inside. As Malfoy shoved past Matt, to Matt's amazement, Malfoy muttered "Sorry Ishida."  
It didn't make Matt feel much better. But it was possibly the first time Draco Malfoy had ever apologised to anyone of his own free will and Matt took some comfort in that.  
* * * *  
After that, Matt, Abby and Talitha were friends. Matt refused to clarify about the crest and the girls wisely didn't pry. Although Matt was always somewhat of an outside when Abby was with her posse, when it was just them he was fully in the mix. It was impossible to make him concentrate properly in lessons and he still got into fights. But he got into less now he had Abby and Talitha behind him. Also, he came out of his shell more. He 'accidentally' turned Melissa Fernbody's hair green making everyone laugh, even Melissa. He also succeeded in melting his cauldron into a twisted lump and flooding the Potions lab with Invisibility Potion meaning that everyone spent the rest of the day unable to see their feet, including Professor Snape. This earned Matt brownie points with nearly everybody as it was very funny to see Snape walking round without feet. Matt's letters home became more upbeat and cheerful and TK began to relax, sure that his brother was happier in the school now and things would all be fine.  
How wrong he was.  
Matt had teamed up with Abby and Talitha in Potions. They were struggling to make a Solidifying Potion.  
"What use is it anyway?" Matt grumbled, peering into the cauldron at the gloupy green slime "What's it supposed to Solidify? It certainly isn't solid unless we really did something wrong."  
Talitha shrugged.  
"I think we probably did do something wrong as I'm the only person who knows what we're doing and I don't know properly," she said "It's the chopped up bryony roots now, right?" she said.  
It was Matt's turn to shrug.  
"You think I was listening to his instructions?"  
"Good point. Abs?"  
Abby shrugged too.  
"I think so," she said "Well, let's try. What harm can it do anyway?"  
Talitha tipped the bryony roots in.  
"Okay. Now we remove from the flames and we add the crushed dung beetles."  
"Guys?" Matt said "Was it supposed to do this?"  
The three leant over their caldron. The potion had turned clear for a moment, then became an unpleasant black colour and was bubbling violently.  
"Uh oh," Abby said.  
Suddenly, the potion began to let off a thick white smoke which rose in a straight up column. Everyone backed away, watching it nervously.   
"What have you done now?" Snape demanded.  
"It's not our fault!" the three chorused which was their standard reply if teachers thought they were getting up to anything.  
"LOOK!" Melissa shouted suddenly from her table "LOOK!"  
Everyone looked. The smoke in the column was swirling rapidly. Then Matt realised that in the centre of the smoke, a shape was forming.  
"What is it?"  
"It looks like a person!"  
Matt frowned. There was something vaguely familiar about that shape....  
He stepped forward, trying to get a closer look.  
Then he felt his blood freeze.  
Although it was shaky, not solid, he recognised the figure instantly.  
Myotismon.  
"Uhhnnnh...."   
Matt made a faint noise at the back of his throat, fear washing over him.  
"Matt?" Abby asked "Matt, what's wrong?"  
Her friends face was white as a sheet. His hands were clenched into fists and he was trembling slightly, staring at the thing in the smoke.  
"Matt?" she said again.  
Matt couldn't hear her. All his attention was fixed on the Digimon in the smoke. Slowly, Myotismon turned towards him. He smiled then passed his hand over Matt's head. Then he held out his hand, palm upwards. Matt blinked. There was something on Myotismon's hand. Tiny little figures....  
It was TK. TK and Gabumon and the other Digimon and Digidestined....  
Then Myotismon snapped his hand closed, crushing the tiny figures. When he opened it again, Matt could see his friends lying splintered and dead in Myotismon's palm.  
Then as he watched in horror, the figure began to grow more solid, more real...  
Matt began to scream.  
  
The End - of this part.  
  
Any problems with this? REVIEW!  
  



	2. New Friends, Old Enemies

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship.  
New Friends, Old Enemies  
By Starrysapphire, Taito Empress  
  
Disclaimer - Nope, they still aren't mine.  
  
NOTE - I have no idea what currency Japan use :-(' or of the conversion rate and I don't know how much it would cost to get from there to England so I've made it up. Sorry if it's completely wrong and please feel free to moan!  
  
This fic is dedicated to the Black Goddess (my sister) for helping me with a few plot holes (although the idea of Tai becoming a rent-boy was NOT appreciated and will NOT be used!)   
Black Goddess: It was just an idea!  
Me: A very bad one! Anyway, can you imagine how much he'd have to rent himself out for £21000!  
Black Goddess: Okay, whatever. Hey everybody! Read MY fics! They never have any plot holes!  
Me: I beg to differ! I'm always helping you!  
Black Goddess: Humph   
Me: After that shameless bit of advertising, lets get on with this story shall we....?  
  
Harry Potter was sitting with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the Gryffindor Common Room when they were approached by two first year girls.  
"Harry?" one of them said timidly.  
Harry looked at them, mentally deciding that if this was for his autograph, he was suffering a severe case of Athletes Hand and was unable to hold a quill.  
"Yes?" he said.  
"I'm Abetzi Littlewood," the girl said "This is Talitha Lions. Um, we've come to ask for help."  
"Help?" Harry repeated. Beside him, Ron and Hermione began to listen too.  
"Yes," Abetzi said "See, we were in Potions class and something happened and Snape won't believe us and we thought maybe you could help....?"  
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. Ron shrugged but Hermione spoke up.  
"Tell us about it," she said "and we'll see if we can do anything."  
Abetzi looked relived. They'd obviously been worrying that Harry wouldn't bother helping them.  
"Well, I was working with Talitha and Matt Ishida," she began  
"Matt Ishida?" Ron interrupted "Isn't he the one who gets into fights all the time and broke Malfoy's nose?"  
Abetzi nodded. Hermione shushed Ron (who was smiling at the memory of Malfoy's broken nose) and turned back to Abetzi "Go on."  
"Well, none of us had really been paying attention to the instructions so we were just guessing," she explained "And we tipped the bryony roots in. Well, then this great column of smoke came out of the cauldron and we could see something in it!"  
"Something?" Harry said.  
"Well, we weren't sure what it was at first. Then we realised it was a person."  
Harry nodded slowly.  
"Well, Matt had stepped forward to see it better because he doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. At least, I thought he didn't. Then he went really white and when I say white, I mean bone white. I asked him what was wrong but he just stood there. Then the figure brushed his hand over Matt's head and he started screaming!"  
"You missed a bit," Talitha said.  
"No I didn't!" Abetzi said indignantly.  
"You did!" Talitha said. She turned to Harry "The figure got more defined you see and then he reached out his hand and did that-" she reached out and brushed her hand over the top of Harry's head " - like Abby said and then he showed Matt something on his hand before closing his hand. That was when Matt started screaming."  
"What happened then?" Hermione asked.  
"Well, the smoke column collapsed then," Abetzi said "And so did Matt. He just knelt on the floor screaming. He wouldn't stop or tell us what was wrong, he just kept screaming."  
"What happened to the smoke man?" Hermione asked.  
"Well, I thought he collapsed with it," Abetzi said "But Tally says that's not what happened."  
Talitha nodded.  
"When Matt started screaming, I ran over," she explained "The figure was right in front of him so I could see properly. The man sort of detached from the smoke and faded into the shadows of the room as the column collapsed. When Matt was taken out later, I swear I saw a smoky shadow of a man follow them but that could have been my imagination."  
"And Snape wouldn't believe us!" Abetzi said indignantly "He saw the figure all right but he wouldn't believe the part about him detaching or showing Matt something. He said that Matt was a wimp who was frightened of shadows!"   
Harry looked at his friends who stared blankly back.  
"Could it have been You-Know-Who?" Ron whispered after a moment.  
"I don't think so," Abetzi interrupted before Harry could say anything "Because You-Know-Who doesn't scare Matt. He doesn't understand. He always uses You-Know-Who's name, all the time, just to scare us.  
Harry had heard reports of Matt Ishida's attitude problem. He always been sure they were exaggerated. He was beginning to wonder.  
"Where's Matt now?" Hermione asked.  
"The Hospital Wing," Talitha said "He was sent straight up there. I think Madame Pomfrey's given him a Sleeping Potion or something to calm him down. He was screaming fit to burst last time we saw him."  
"Right," Harry said.  
He looked at the others gloomily.  
"What was the Potion you were making?" Hermione asked.  
"Solidifying Potion," Abetzi said.  
"And you put the chopped up bryony roots in while it was on the fire!" Hermione said, looking shocked.  
"Well, I thought you did that, then removed from flames and added the dung beetles!" Talitha said defensively.  
"No! You add the dung beetles first, then remove from the flames and add bryony roots!" Hermione said "No wonder something strange happened!"  
The two girls looked sheepish. Hermione sighed.  
"Well, we'll do our best," she said "But honestly, I think you should go to Professor McGonagall about this rather than us. We can't do much."  
The girls shrugged, looking unhappy.  
"We'll try though," Harry said.  
The two girls thanked them before going on their way, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione looking at each other worriedly.  
* * * *  
Matt woke up sweating. For one terrified moment, he had no idea where he was. Then he began to piece things together, the Potions lesson.....the smoke..... Myotismon.....the figures in his hand....then as he'd screamed, Myotismon fading into the shadows, solid again....  
Matt sat bolt up right shaking. Tai! He had to warn Tai! Myotismon was back! He knew it!  
Matt put his head in his hands, trying to relax and think. How could he warn Tai? There were no telephones at Hogwarts or anywhere nearby. He didn't know anyway of contacted Tai except by owl and Ryo was already out, taking a letter to TK. It could take ages for the owl to return from Japan.  
Matt breathed deeply. He didn't know a spell. But maybe someone else did. Like Hermione Granger. She was one of the cleverest people there, everyone knew that. He could go and wake Harry Potter and Harry could get Hermione. After all, he didn't want to frighten her by going into the girls dormitory and she wouldn't be scared by Harry.  
Matt staggered out of the Medical Wing and towards the Gryffindor tower, unaware that he was being followed.  
* * * *  
Harry was woken by someone gently shaking him. Opening his eyes, he saw Matt Ishida standing over him. He looked awful. His face was pale and he was drenched in sweat.  
"Matt?" he muttered sleepily "What....?"  
"Shhh!" Matt whispered "Please! I need your help Harry! It's urgent!"  
"My help?" Harry said.  
"I have to get in contact with my friends in Japan straight away!" Matt whispered "Please Harry, this is desperately important! Please! Go and wake Hermione, she'll know a way!"  
Harry stared at him.  
"You should be in the Hospital Wing," he said.  
"Please!" Matt begged again "We're all in danger! Please help me!"  
Harry considered for a moment, then got out of bed. He crept over and shook Ron awake then sneaked into the Girls Dormitory and woke Hermione. She grumpily staggered out of bed and they went down to the Common Room where Ron and Matt were waiting.  
"Hermione," Matt said as soon as he saw he "I need a quick way of contacting my friends in Japan. It's urgent!"  
Hermione looked at him.  
"Why? What's so important?" she asked.  
"I can't explain, you'd never believe me!" Matt said "You just have to help me!"  
Harry looked at Hermione. She was frowning.  
"Well, there is a spell," she said "It's like astral projection. But it needs more people and we don't have enough. And it's a risk..."  
"Abby and Talitha will help," Matt said instantly "They won't mind. And we have to, this is a real emergency!"  
"I'll help too," a voice said.  
Turning, they were amazed to see Draco Malfoy stepping out from the shadows.  
"Malfoy!" Ron hissed "What are you doing in the Gryffindor Common Room."  
"I followed him," Malfoy said, pointing at Matt "I heard him say the Password, used it myself and sneaked inside. I wanted to know what was happening."  
"What were you doing out so late?" Hermione asked angrily.  
"I sneaked out to see him," Malfoy said, pointing at Matt again "It's been going all round the school that Yamato Ishida saw something in some smoke and I wanted to know what he saw."  
"Why?" Matt demanded.  
Malfoy flinched. "Because I thought I saw something today," he said quietly.  
Before the others could say anything, Matt had grabbed Malfoy by the front of his pyjamas. "What? What did you see?" he demanded feverishly.  
Malfoy pulled himself loose.  
"I was having Defence Against the Dark Arts," he explained "We heard you screaming as you were carried up to the Hospital Wing. We leant out the room to see you. We couldn't see anything so we went back inside. About an hour later when I was in Charms, I was looking out of the window. I saw something at the edge of the forest. At first I thought it was a shadow. But then I realised that it was solid, real."  
"What was it?" Matt whispered.  
Malfoy swallowed. He looked a little afraid.  
"I thought it was a man at first," he said "He looked like one. But then he looked up and I saw....."  
"Saw what?" Hermione asked.  
"His teeth," Malfoy said softly "He was a vampire."  
Matt gave a horrified moan and doubled over. Harry quickly lowered him into a seat where Matt sat, shaking.   
"Why does it bother you so much?" Malfoy asked "He's just a vampire."  
"You don't know Myotismon," Matt said faintly "He's not a real vampire, not how you mean. He nearly destroyed the world. He nearly killed me and my friends and our families. And it's my fault he's back. If I'd paid more attention..."  
He looked at Hermione.  
"Help me," he said "Please?"  
Hermione nodded.   
"Harry," she said "Go and wake Abetzi and Talitha. Make sure they bring their wands. Harry, go and get my wand and yours and Ron's and Matt's. Malfoy, go back to your dormitory and get your own wand. Matt, you come with me. We'll all meet in the History of Magic classroom. And Harry - bring the cloak."  
They scattered. A few minutes later, they were gathered in the History of Magic classroom, Abby and Talitha yawning grumpily but quite willing to help Matt who was obviously terribly worried. Hermione had gathered everything she needed and was looking at the spell.  
"Okay," she said "I think I've got it. Matt, you kneel down there okay? We need to form a hexagon."  
Noting several blank faces, she said impatiently "A six sided shape. Malfoy, you stand on that side of Matt, Harry, you on the other. Ron, you stand there, Abby, you there, Talitha, you there. I'll stand here." Hermione turned to Matt "Now listen Matt, get your message though fast. I don't know how long we can keep this up and if we're caught, we'll be stopped instantly. Everyone ready? Good. Now raise your wands."  
Everyone obeyed.  
"Now when I drop my hand, you all say Tú cierras los ojrtos y te dejas arrastrar. Got it?"  
They all nodded.  
"Okay," Hermione said. She took a deep breath and then dropped her hand.  
They all chorused the words together. Instantly, jets of bright blue light shot out of every wand, making a blue corona around Matt. Matt convulsed violently then dropped to all fours, breathing heavily. Everyone watched as a faint shadow-Matt appeared briefly, then vanished.  
* * * *  
"Tai! Tai!"  
Tai sleepily opened his eyes.  
"Kari?" he said.  
"No Tai. It's me!"  
Tai's eyes snapped fully open and he jerked upright, suddenly wide awake. Turning, he stared silently. Standing in the middle of his floor was Matt. Only not the real Matt. This Matt was transparent. Tai remembered vaguely though the surprise that he was in his oldest, most awful pyjamas and for some unaccountable reason, wished he was wearing something better.  
"Kari," Tai croaked "Kari wake up. You have to see this!"  
Kari opened her eyes, then gasped.  
"There's not much time," the Shadow-Matt said "It's a difficult spell this and it hurts. And if it hurt me, I'd hate to think of what it's doing to the others."  
"What's up?" Tai asked.  
The Shadow-Matt swallowed.  
"It's Myotismon, Tai," he said "He's back."  
Tai felt his blood freeze. He heard Kari's horrified gasp.  
"Myotismon?" he croaked.  
Shadow-Matt nodded.  
"I'm so sorry Tai," he whispered "It was my fault. We must have done something....created a new Potion or something.....anyway, he appeared in the smoke and then became solid! He's loose in the Forbidden Forest somewhere. Tai, you have to come and help me!"  
"How?" Kari asked "You're in England, Matt!"  
"You have to!" Shadow-Matt pleaded "I can't fight Myotismon without you! You know that!"  
Tai nodded.  
"Don't worry," he said, trying to sound confident "We'll be there Matt. You can count on it. Just hang in there."  
Shadow-Matt smiled.  
"I've missed you Taichi," he said.  
Tai flushed slightly, but smiled.  
"Yeah," he said "I'm missed you too, Yamato."  
Shadow-Matt began to blur.  
"Ryo will arrive in a few days," he said, his voice faint "Take her with you and then follow her. She'll lead you to Hogwarts. Thank you."  
He vanished, leaving Tai and Kari staring at each other.  
* * * *  
"And you're sure this wasn't a dream," Izzy said, sounding slightly sceptical.  
The Digidestined were gathered together in Izzy's room, listening to Tai and Kari's story.  
"Yes!" Tai said crossly "We both saw him didn't we?"  
"You mean Myotismon's back?" TK said, his voice trembling "He's at Hogwarts, where Matt is?"  
Tai nodded grimly.  
"We have to help him!" TK insisted, tears gathering in his eyes.  
Sora put an arm round him and looked at Tai.  
"Tai, I believe you, but we have to face facts," she said "We don't have anywhere near enough money to get us to England and even if we did, how could we explain it to our parents?"  
Izzy was doing something on his computer.  
"I estimate that if we use the cheapest, most boxy, awful flight we can find, for all of us to get to England, in English money, it's likely to cost at least £21000," he said.  
"WHAT?" everyone chorused.  
"For all seven of us to get to England in the worst flight conditions, it's going to be around £21000," Izzy repeated "If we're lucky, possibly about a thousand less."  
Everyone looked at each other.  
"Tai, there's no way we can get the kind of money from anywhere, short of robbing a bank!" Sora said.  
Tai frowned. He couldn't let Matt down, he'd promised.  
"How much for one person to go?" he asked.  
Izzy frowned.  
"Around £3000," he said "But that's not easy money to raise either and just one person going is hardly going to be any use."  
"Is that a return ticket too?" Tai asked.  
"Yes," Izzy said.  
Tai looked round.  
"Can any of you raise that sort of money?" he asked "Selling stuff....taking money out of bank accounts....anything?"  
"Well, I could try selling a kidney," Joe said sarcastically "Of course, then I'd be too ill to take the trip."  
"Um, guys?" TK said. He sounded very timid, as though he knew that he was going to get yelled at "I might know something we can do but..."  
"Tell us," Tai ordered.  
TK swallowed.  
"Well, after Mum and Dad split up, Matt went though this really bad patch," he said "Everytime I visited him, he was angry. He talked about all sorts of horrible things. I was scared. Eventually, they sent him to a psychologist 'cause he was so bad and he got a bit better, better enough to stop going anyway. But while he'd been bad, he'd been hanging round with this gang of older kids who taught him some stuff. He told me bits of it. And one of them was...." TK's voice trailed off again.  
"What? Spit it out TK," Tai said.  
"It was how to use your parent's credit cards over the Net, without using the numbers," TK whispered.  
There was a pause.  
"So what you're saying is," Mimi said "A way of shopping permanently without asking for Daddy's credit card number!"  
"What he's saying is, he has a way for us to steal from all our parents," Izzy said darkly.  
"Please don't be mad," TK pleaded "We've never used it. And you made me tell!"  
Tai nodded.  
"It is an emergency," he said.  
"No!" Sora shouted "No, Tai, I'm not stealing my parents money, not even for something this important!"  
"But we have to help Matt!" Tai said "We'd pay the money back into the accounts!" "But our parents would never trust us again!" Joe pointed out.  
"They wouldn't even know it was us," Tai said uncertainly.  
"Of course they'd know!" Sora said angrily "The credit card people would know what the money had been spent on and they are likely to notice our absence!"  
Tai shrugged. He knew that what they were talking about doing was very morally dubious but they had to help Matt.  
"Couldn't we take just a little from every credit card and share out the cost?" Mimi suggested.  
"How many credit cards do your parents own Mimi?" Izzy asked "£21000 is a lot of money, in case you hadn't realised. Anyway, imagining that everyone here has two credit cards - one per parent - we'd have to take £1500 each and that's still a sizeable amount of money. Besides, I know for a fact that that's not the case so it would be more than that for some people."  
Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. TK looked miserably guilty. If he hadn't suggested it, no one would be in this situation. Beside him, Tai took a deep breath.  
"I know this is a bad choice to have to make and I'm not going to force anybody. But Matt's my friend and if Myotismon is back then I have to do something. I'm going to go to England, no matter what anybody says."  
"Then I'll go with you," TK said "This is my fault anyway and I know Matt'd do the same for me!"  
Tai smiled at TK. TK grinned back with a confidence that he didn't really feel. He knew that he'd be in real trouble for this and he'd have to say where he'd got the information from.  
"If Tai's going, I'm going," Kari said loyally. Tai grinned.  
"Well.....I guess Matt's relying on me," Joe said, sounding gloomy "But my parents will kill me."  
Sora frowned. She was looking furious.  
"Sora, I know you don't like this..." Tai began but Sora cut in.  
"No Tai, you're right, I don't like this! And I'm not going to let you do it!"  
"Sora!" Tai protested, but Sora was wearing her 'resolve face' and Tai knew nothing could stop her.  
"Sora's right," Izzy said "It's important that we save the world but if we lose all our morals along the way, then we're no better than what we fight! There must be some other way."  
For a while, they all sat there, trying to think of a better way to get £21000.  
"That's it!" Mimi announced "I give up! I can't think of anything!"  
"There has to be some way!" Tai snarled "I'm not giving up!"  
There was a faint hoot and Ryo landed beside them.  
"Ryo!" TK said. He unfastened the letter from Ryo's leg and began to read it, stroking Ryo's back, as Tai tried to convince Sora that stealing money was the only way. Then TK stiffened.  
"Tai," he said "Tai!"  
"What?" Tai said.  
"Look!" TK said "Read that!" He pointed. Tai looked.  
....You'll never believe it, but recently, one of the Gryffindor fifth years came to talk to me and not to tell me off for punching someone! His name was Ron Weasley (I mentioned his crazy twin brothers once, remember?) and he wanted to know about Japan. Apparently, one of his older brothers (Charlie) has just been sent there because Japan is a great place for dragons! (Don't worry, they rarely attack anyone) He's busy studying them and stuff. Something about how they bring their babies up in the wild. Ron thinks he won't be taking care of himself properly and asked me if you could maybe you can look out for him as he's staying in Odiaba. I said you would, I hope that's okay.  
Matt's letter then went on to give the address.  
"Of course!" Tai yelled "That's IT!!"  
As the others looked at him, he explained his plan.  
* * * *  
Charlie Weasley was woken up by knocking on his door. He frowned. Surely he hadn't over-slept? He'd been out all night watching a Japanese Gold-Eye fussing over its young. He had set his alarm clock to wake him at 7:00PM. Glancing at his clock, he saw that it was only 1:00PM.  
Staggering over, he opened the door. To his amazement, he found seven children standing on his door step. They stared at him. He was about to suggest that they had the wrong house when he noticed that one of them was carrying an owl.  
"Are you Charlie Weasley?" one asked.  
"Yes I am," Charlie said "Who are you?"   
The boy smiled slightly, barely masking the worry in his eyes.  
"I'm Taichi Yagami," he said "We need your help."  
* * * *  
"I'm going to be sick!" TK wailed.  
"We're nearly there!" one of the wizards called soothingly.  
Tai closed his eyes. It had taken ages to convince Charlie Weasley to help them but eventually he'd agreed. He and some of his friends had Apparated them to England.  
The problem was, they were flying on broomsticks the rest of the way.  
All the Digidestined had flown before, some more than others. They all had the distinctly strange feeling of floating in mid-air and being turned in data which had also felt like floating in a way. When Charlie had told them they'd be flying, Tai hadn't worried in the slightest.  
The problem was, Tai had discovered, there was a great difference to flying on the back of a Digimon or being held suspended in space by an entity to sitting on the back of a thin wooden stick, clinging onto a wizard in front of you.  
"Tai!" he heard Mimi wail "I'm not sure I can take much more!"  
"Will you guys shut up?" Tai gritted out "You've all flown before! Stop being such wussies!"  
He made the unfortunate mistake of glancing down as he said this and felt a wave of nausea sweep over him. With a moan, he tightened his grip on the wizard.  
The wizards all seemed to find it all very amusing. Tai was tempted to push his wizard off the broom but he wasn't sure if he could make it stay up in the air and decided against it.   
"There!" someone yelled "Hogwarts!"   
A weak cheer went up from all seven Digidestined as the wizards landed. Tai privately swore that he would never fly again.  
"Are you sure you can see yourselves up to the door?" one wizard asked.  
"Yes, thanks," Tai said "And say thanks to Charlie Weasley!" The wizards flew off leaving the Digidestined looking at each other. None of them had really considered what they would do once they got to Hogwarts.  
"Isn't Myotismon supposed to be loose in this forest?" TK asked, his voice quavering.  
"We can cope," Tai said firmly "Come on."  
"Wait!" Sora said "We can't just burst in on them! The teachers will throw a fit! We have to think of a better way."  
"Matt can come out here," Tai said promptly "We'll send a note on Ryo."  
"Yeah!" TK said.  
Ryo fluttered impatiently as Tai fastened a note to her leg. TK had been carrying her all the way and she wanted to stretch her wings. As soon as Tai released her, she was off.  
"We'll have to get closer to the castle though," Tai said.  
Sora nodded and together, the Digidestined began the trek up to the castle.  
* * * *  
Deep in the forest, a crowd of centaurs stood looking grimly up at the sky.  
"The signs are clear," one of them said "A great evil has entered this world."  
"But what is it?" another asked.  
"The stars will not say," the centaur said "But it is not of this world."  
A laugh interrupted them.   
"Very good," a mocking voice said "What do you do for an encore?"  
A man stepped out from the trees. He was very tall and in strange clothes. It only took the centaurs a moment to realise that not only was this the evil they'd been discussing, it was no man but a vampire. They scattered in different directions.  
"Crimson Lightning!" the vampire cried.  
Red light flashed and many centaurs fell, dead or wounded. The vampire swept down on one wounded one and despite the centaurs struggling, sank his teeth into the centaurs neck. After drinking deeply, he dropped the centaur to the ground.  
"Not as good as human blood," Myotismon murmured "But sufficient."  
He barely even glanced at the destruction he'd created before disappearing into the trees, as silently as he'd come.  
  
The End of Part 2.  
  
An additional note; if you really must know what the spell words actually meant, loosely translated, it's 'She'll make you live a crazy life but she'll take away your pain, like a bullet though your brain.' Yes, I have been listening to Ricky Martin and that's the Spanish version of 'Livin' La Vida Loca'. I can only apologise. :-t  
  
  



	3. The Stars Know All

Harry Potter and The Keeper of Friendship  
The Stars Know All  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - Well, since they haven't been mine for two parts, it seems unlikely that they're mine now. Let me just check...*looks though all the papers on her floor*...nope, no receipt for 'Digimon' or 'Harry Potter'. :-C Oh well.  
  
Sorry this has taken a while to post but my account froze me out and I couldn't get on. Hope it was worth the wait!  
  
For the second night on a run, Harry was woken up by Matt Ishida shaking him.  
"Come on," Matt said.  
"Huh? What?" Harry whispered sleepily.  
"You wanted to know what was going on," Matt said. He was grinning, Harry noticed which made a change from before "Well, now's your chance. Wake Ron, get your Invisibility Cloak and come on!"  
"Why?" Harry asked.  
"My friends are here!" Matt said, grinning even more.  
* * * *  
A few minutes later, they were all sneaking down. The Invisibility Cloak wouldn't cover everyone, so they were using the Marauder's Map to avoid Filch. Malfoy had given them the Slytherin password so Matt could come and get him if there was any news. Matt darted in and woke Malfoy quickly. Then they went outside.  
"Where are they?" Abby asked.  
Matt looked around.  
"Psst! Matt!"  
"Hey Matt!"  
"Shhh, TK!"  
Turning, Matt ran towards the sounds, the others following. Harry looked. Just off the path were seven slightly dishevelled looking children. Matt had one of the smaller ones in his arms and Harry guessed that one was his brother. As he watched, Matt deposited the little boy and hugged a taller one with dark hair. Shrugging, Harry looked at the others who smiled at him nervously.   
Only Sora and Malfoy noticed that Matt and Tai's embrace went on slightly longer than would normally be expected, and both smiled knowingly to themselves.  
"Well, this is very nice," Malfoy whispered a little sarcastically "But introductions and explanations would be nice?"  
Matt nodded, looking slightly guilty as he stepped away from Tai.  
"Sorry. Hogwarts-group, these are Tai Yagami, TK Takaishi, Sora Takenouchi, Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi, Mimi Takihawa, Joe Kido and Kari Yagami. Digi-group, meet Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Abetzi 'Abby' Littlewood, Talitha Lions and Draco Malfoy."  
Everyone mumbled 'hellos' at each other. Malfoy frowned.  
"If TK's your brother, why does he have a different surname to you?" he asked.  
Matt flushed.  
"Our parents split up," TK explained cheerfully.  
"TK, quieten down!" Matt whispered harshly "You'll wake the school!"  
"Sorry," TK whispered back, his voice still shrill.  
Hermione looked around.  
"We can't talk out here," she whispered "We have to find some place better."  
"The Shrieking Shack," Harry said "No one ever goes there, especially not in the middle of the night!"  
"That's in Hogsmeade," Malfoy said "We're here."  
Harry looked at the others for a moment.  
"Malfoy," he said "Follow us and we'll show you how to get the Shrieking Shack and Hogsmeade without the teachers knowing about it."  
* * * *  
A little while later, everyone was sitting in the Shrieking Shack. Tai was explaining the Digidestined and Myotismon. Hermione kept interrupting with questions which meant it took more time than it might have done.  
"What I don't understand," Izzy said "Is how Myotismon came back. We defeated him! What could any potion do to bring him back?"  
"I don't know," Hermione said "I've been looking up the recipe that they accidentally used but I don't think it exists. Obviously, no ones ever tried it or it's not supposed to do anything."  
"What exactly happened to the potion?" Malfoy asked.  
"Well, we tipped the bryony roots it," Matt said "It turned clear then black and then started letting off stream."  
"At the end, everything was gone," Abby said "There was just a little residue at the bottom."  
Hermione shrugged.  
"Well, I don't know what it can have done," she said.  
"We don't know why it's happened, but the important thing is that it has," Malfoy pointed out "What can we do about it?"  
"You're offering to help?" Harry said, sounding startled.  
Malfoy blushed a little.  
"Well, I might as well," he said "This Myotismon doesn't exactly sound pleasant and I don't fancy going to an early grave."  
Harry glanced at Ron who frowned and shrugged.  
"Well, we're glad to have anyone on board," Tai said "Myotismon is tough and we don't have our Digimon."  
"There has to be some way to reopen the gate and get to the Digimon," Izzy said "It's highly unlikely that we can defeat Myotismon on our own."  
"I could try to find a spell," Hermione said.  
"But if it's that easy, why couldn't Gennai have done something like that?" Mimi asked.  
Abby opened her mouth, no doubt to ask who Gennai was but Izzy started talking before she could.  
"Gennai isn't a witch or wizard, in so far as we know," he said "All right Hermione. You lot try and find a spell."  
"Can't Myotismon be destroyed without the Digimon?" Talitha asked.  
"Possibly, but now's really not the time to be experimenting!" Tai said "We need to get this over and done with before Myotismon hurts anybody. Besides, we have to get home."  
"That's a point," Matt said "What did you tell your parents?"  
The group looked at each other sheepishly.  
"Well, we didn't exactly tell our parents anything," Tai said "We just left them notes saying that we'd be gone a couple of weeks and left."  
"WHAT!" Hermione yelled "That's awful!"  
"Well what could we tell them?" Tai asked "Sorry, we have to fight an enemy we already fought 'cause some potion Matt made brought him back?"  
Matt made a faint noise at the back of his throat and turned away. Tai winced, knowing he'd upset his friend.  
"I'm sorry Matt," he said "I know you didn't mean to do it."  
"I am sorry," Matt said softly.  
"It was as much our fault as his," Abby said loyally "We weren't paying attention either."  
"But you've never met Myotismon," Matt said "It must have been something I did."  
"We should get back," Talitha said suddenly "If we're gone too long we'll be missed and that'll lead to awkward questions."  
"We can stay here," Tai said "It's not so bad. Why is the place so torn apart though?"  
"That's a very long story," Harry said "There's no time to tell you now."  
"We'll bring you some blankets and food in the morning," Matt promised "See you guys. See you Tai."  
As they set off down the tunnel, Malfoy held Harry back.  
"Did Littlewood say that it turned clear, then black?" he said.  
Harry nodded.  
"Yeah. Why?"  
"No reason," Malfoy said quickly "I just wanted my facts straight, that's all."  
He walked on, leaving Harry looking after him, wondering.  
* * * *  
At breakfast the next morning, all the people involved in last nights expedition were trying not to doze off over their porridge. Hermione was reading a book, obviously looking for spells to get into other worlds.  
"I'm so tired," Ron grumbled "And we're got Potions this afternoon. Snape's never going to let me catch a nap."  
"Good thing too," Hermione said "How would you learn anything?"  
Ron glared at her and pushed away his porridge, resting his head on his hand.  
"Look on the bright side," Harry said "We got some sleep unlike the night where we did the astral spell thingy and couldn't sleep for pins and needles."  
Ron opened his mouth but nothing had time to come out as Hagrid rushed in, his eyes wide. The whole room went silent.  
"Professor!" he gasped "Dumbledore, sir....you gotta come...."  
"What's happened?" Dumbledore asked, getting to his feet.  
"In the forest...." Hagrid said "Centaurs.....a whole bunch of 'em.....they're all dead."  
Gasps and whispers filled the hall, followed by a deadly hush as everyone stared at Hagrid.  
"They've all got these strange burn marks on 'em," Hagrid continued.  
A metallic clang broke the hush; Matt Ishida just dropped his goblet on the floor. He didn't even notice everyone staring at him, just stared after Hagrid as he and Dumbledore left the hall.  
"Matt?" Abby asked, poking her friend.  
Matt blinked and came out of his trance. He scowled and picked up his goblet, trembling slightly.  
"You think it was Myotismon?" Abby asked out of the corner of her mouth.  
"Sure of it," Matt muttered back "Burn marks....could have been his Crimson Lightning attack. It'd probably be lethal to any non-Digimon who he tried it on."  
"Great," Abby muttered "Just terrific."  
"Why would he kill centaurs?" Talitha asked.  
Matt shook his head.  
"Why not?" he asked.  
The school spent the day in a daze, worrying about what had happened in the forest. No one noticed that Matt, Abby, Talitha, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy all seemed more tired than usual, or that they seemed overly concerned about what had happened. At dinner time, Dumbledore addressed the school gravely.  
"You all heard what happened last night," he said "I would have preferred to break the news more gently but Hagrid was not very discreet. However, there is one detail I believe I should add to his story. One of the centaurs was discovered with a vampire wound in his neck."  
Gasps filled the room again. Matt exchanged a knowing look with Abby.  
"We do not know why vampires would have entered the Forbidden Forest or what the burn marks are," Dumbledore said "However, if anyone knows anything, I want them to come forward immediately. This is extremely serious."  
There was a pause. The group glanced at each other. None of them were sure whether to tell Dumbledore or not. Eventually, they turned their eyes to Matt, who shook his head slightly. Then suddenly, there was movement. A Ravenclaw third year had stood up.  
"Please sir," she said "Please sir, I saw some people outside last night."  
Matt very quietly began cursing the girl in Japanese. Harry crossed all his fingers under the table as the girl continued.  
"I couldn't sleep sir and I was looking out of the window," the girl said "When I saw some shadows near the woods. I thought they were some pupils sneaking out because they looked like kids but maybe..."  
"Did you hear anything?" Snape asked sharply.  
The girl shook her head.  
"Not really sir. I thought I heard one of them say something like 'Tee kay' but I'm not sure."  
Matt clenched his fists under the table. They were idiots, all of them! They should have been more careful!  
"Hey Ishida!" someone yelled "Isn't your little brother called TK?"  
Matt's fists clenched tighter as everyone turned to stare at him.  
"No," he said "And anyway, what would my brother be doing here?"  
Professor Dumbledore nodded.  
"Quite right Yamato. Thank you," he said to the girl "Does anyone else know anything?"  
No one said anything. Professor Dumbledore dismissed them all. As they walked out, Malfoy 'accidentally' bumped Matt and hissed "Meet you in the Charms classroom later." Matt nodded slightly and carried on his way.  
* * * *  
Near the edge of the forest, Myotismon stood, watching the school. Inside there, he knew, was the Keeper of Friendship. The one who'd unwittingly brought him back.  
Myotismon didn't know exactly what had happened to him. He remembered being destroyed by the Digidestined when he was VenomMyotismon. After that was a sort of blankness. The next thing he remembered was a strange tugging feeling, then realising he was standing over the quaking Keeper of Friendship. Myotismon wanted to know what had happened and he meant to find out. The only people who could possibly know that were the Keeper of Friendship and those other little friends of his. Two girls weren't they? Well, they were the ones who'd tried to calm him down when he'd collapsed in terror.   
Myotismon smiled to himself. The Keeper might remain strong for a while but he hardly thought that the girls would be so hardy. And as far as he knew, they were no longer in Japan. So the other Digidestined ought not be around.  
But that was enough thinking. Myotismon's strength was now almost returned after feeding off the centaur and several other small creatures he'd found. He wanted to know what was going on and how the Keeper of Friendship had brought him back. And the best way to discover that....  
Quietly, Myotismon began heading towards the castle.  
* * * *  
Anyone passing the Charms classroom would have stopped and stared in amazement at the shouting going on. Luckily, there corridor was deserted.  
"I'm telling you, we should tell him!" Ron bellowed.  
"And I'm telling you, it wouldn't be any use!" Matt screamed back "Professor Dumbledore can't possibly fight Myotismon! The fewer people who know, the better!"  
"But Dumbledore would be able to help!" Harry said "He already suspects something after what whoever-it-was said about your brother! He's bound to ask to see you sooner or later and I think you should tell him the truth!"  
"All he'd do would be to stop us getting involved!" Matt shouted "He'd say that we were too young, send the others home and get everyone killed!"  
"Well he should send them home!" Hermione snapped "They certainly shouldn't be here without their parents consent!"  
"What were they supposed to do?" Matt demanded "We're the only ones who can fight Myotismon! Not you! Us! We're the Digidestined, we have to do this! If you lot want to tell Dumbledore, fine! We shan't stop you but if you do that then you're working against us, rather than with us!"  
"Now hold on a moment," Malfoy intervened "Don't you think you're all being idiots?"  
"Shut up Malfoy!" Ron snapped. He turned back to Matt "Listen, you dope, Dumbledore wouldn't try to stop us."  
Unfortunately, it was too late to even attempt reason. Matt was in a furious temper and he didn't care who knew it.  
"Of course he would!" he yelled "That's what grown-ups do, they stop you doing what you have to! Us Digidestined are the only ones who can do this! You hear me? We're the only ones!!!"  
"Don't be silly," Abby said "You've got us."  
"That's the point!" Matt shouted "There's no point you being here because there's nothing you can do! You aren't the Digidestined and you can't help us at all!"  
He stood up.  
"We don't need your help," he said "Stay out of it and you'll be fine. If you get involved, you'll get yourselves killed."  
Turning, he walked out of the classroom, kicking Mrs Norris who was standing nearby, mewing softly. She yowled and ran away as Matt strode off leaving an absolutely stunned Charms room behind him.  
"What do we do now?" Hermione asked eventually.  
"He didn't mean it," Talitha said "He was just angry. When he calms down, he'll see sense."  
"See sense!" Ron said "I don't think Matt knows the meaning of the word sense."  
"Ron," Hermione said "That's not fair."  
"I'll go and find Matt," Abby said "Help him calm down. Anyway, someone has to take the others their food and things."   
Standing up, she walked out.  
"Wait!" Talitha called "You shouldn't go by yourself!"  
"I expect I'll meet up with Matt!" Abby called back.  
Talitha shrugged, looking uncertain but she didn't move.  
"Look," Malfoy said "I think we should all just forget about this and go to bed. We've had broken sleep for two nights on the run and we're all tired. In the morning, things will look better."  
"Wow," Harry said "You actually sound like you care Malfoy. I'm impressed."  
For a second, Harry though he saw a quick smile flicker across Malfoy's face. Then it was gone.  
"Do me a favour Potter," he said "Well, two actually. One, I don't care, but I don't want Myotismon killing me. Two, don't call me Malfoy. My name's Draco."  
"I'll never get used to that!" Harry said "Anyway, you still call me Potter."  
"Fine, I'll call you Harry," Malfoy said "But please don't call me Malfoy."  
"Well, since you said please," Harry joked. Draco grinned slightly.  
"Thanks....Harry," he said.  
"C'mon Harry," Ron said "Lets go before you and Mal....Draco actually become friends!"  
Everyone laughed, a bit weakly, but it was a laugh.   
"We have to go!" Harry groaned suddenly "Don't you remember Ron? Professor Trelawney is taking us star gazing tonight. Something about some fascinating constellation in conjunction with some planet or something."  
"Ugh," Ron said "I had forgotten. Can't I claim to be seriously ill?"  
"You're not leaving me in the lurch!" Harry said grimly "I need someone to laugh with! If she sees my death in the stars, I'm stopping Divination. I mean it! I'm sick to death of being told I'm going to die!"  
"Isn't there some contradiction in terms there?" Talitha asked "Sick to death of being told you'll die?"  
"That's probably how she means to kill you," Draco said "Drive you insane!"  
Snickering, Harry and Ron left to prepare for their 'fun' night of star watching with Professor Trelawney. Talitha trotted off too. Before Draco could leave, Hermione caught his shoulder.  
"Draco," she said, sounding careful "I was just wondering....and I apologise if I'm wrong.....you and Harry...."  
Draco flushed.  
"What about me and Harry?" he asked "So we aren't fighting. It's an emergency situation here, if Ishida and the other can be believed which it seems to be the case after what happened with the centaurs."  
"Okay," Hermione said meekly "Forget I said anything."  
She went off leaving Malfoy frowning to himself; what had Granger been about to say?  
* * * *  
Harry and Ron stood shivering at the top of the Astronomy Tower, listening to Professor Trelawney prattle on about whatever they were supposed to be looking at. Ron was nearly asleep on his feet and Harry had to keep poking him awake.  
"The stars know all," Professor Trelawney was saying in her misty voice "And they certainly never lie...."  
Her voice trailed off and she rocked slightly. Then she went stiff.  
"Professor?" Lavender Brown said timidly "Professor?"  
Professor Trelawney suddenly whirled round to face them. Her eyes were unfocused and she was still completely rigid, like a board.  
"He has come," she said, her voice harsh and unlike her own. Harry froze solid. The last time he had heard Professor Trelawney speak like that had been when she had predicated Peter Pettigrew's escape and Lord Voldemort rising again. The class all stood staring at Professor Trelawney, spell bound, as she continued.  
"He has returned to Earth to seek his revenge! He was destroyed by the Digital destined children but now he has returned and will revenge himself upon them and their kind!"  
"Who?" "What?" "What's she talking about?"  
Everyone was whispering, confused, excited, afraid or a mixture of all three. Harry and Ron were just standing, watching Professor Trelawney with horror as she spoke.  
"Lord Myotismon will have his revenge and tonight he will take what he needs to return to the Digital World! There he will summon his brother's multi-great child and together, they will create the Valley of Death. Tonight, he will understand how to use his power and many will suffer for the Keeper's mistake!"  
Professor Trelawney blinked and staggered. Then she looked round.  
"What happened?" she asked, looking a little confused.  
She was answered by a clamour of voices but Harry and Ron were not part of them. They had already taken off running to find the others and tell them what had happened.  
* * * *  
Abby was carefully making her way back though the forest. The others had been very pleased to get the food and blankets but Matt wasn't there. Tai had assured her that if he came, they'd make him apologise and that they did want their help. Abby smiled to herself. Poor old Matt. He really did have a dreadful attitude problem. Her guess was that she'd find Matt bleeding in the Common Room, having worked out his frustrations on the first person he'd been able to pick a fight with.  
"So. You're the Keeper of Friendship's new toy."  
Abby froze. Slowly she turned round to face the evil Digimon standing in the trees.  
"No," she said, forcing herself to remain calm "I'm not his toy. I'm his friend."  
"Same thing," Myotismon said, stepping out of the shadows and walking towards her. He was pleased to see her shrink away in fear, for all she was trying to hide it "He has many friends, none of which really matter to him."  
"That shows what you know," Abby said, making her voice stay firm "All of Matt's friends matter to him."  
Myotismon snorted.  
"Not as much as Matt matters to himself," he said "Of course, you know that. You're no fool."  
"You're wrong," Abby said "Matt cares for all of us."  
Myotismon stepped closer. Abby hunched down. Myotismon was very over-bearing and Tai hadn't toned down the story in the slightest. She remembered what they'd said about Wizardmon and all the others.  
"How did you bring me here?" he demanded "I know it was you and the other girl and the Keeper of Friendship. How did you do it?"  
"We don't know," Abby said "It was an accident."  
"How can I return to the Digital World?" Myotismon asked.  
"How should I know?" Abby snapped "I'd never even heard of the Digital World until last night. How should I know how to get you back there?"  
"What is this place?" Myotismon asked, suddenly changing tack. Abby blinked, confused. She wasn't sure how to deal with Myotismon.  
"It's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said.  
"Witchcraft and Wizardry....," Myotismon repeated "Hmmm. Magic."  
Abby backed away from him slightly. There was something very mesmerising about Myotismon's very presence and she didn't want to become very affected by it.  
"So the Keeper of Friendship is a wizard," Myotismon said "Lucky him. The other Digidestined must be jealous. Probably excluding him."  
"Not as far as I can see," Abby said "They don't seem to treat him any different."  
Myotismon gave a soft hiss.  
"So the others are here," he whispered "Thank you child."  
Abby realised that she had revealed too much. Turning she ran for her life, stumbling over the forest floor, trying to make it to the safety of the school.  
She almost made it. Myotismon seized her at the edge of the forest. Abby tried to scream but he covered her mouth effectively.  
"Thank you for your assistance child," he said "But I no longer need you."  
He sank his teeth into her neck, drinking deeply. Abby gave one last whimper and then lay limp and lifeless in Myotismon's arms. The last thing she saw were the stars that Harry and Ron had been looking at, only minutes before.  
Myotismon dropped her to the ground and stared coldly down at her body. Silly, foolish little girl. Believing that she could escape him.  
But she'd told him what he needed to know. The other Digidestined were here. But how much did they know? Unlike normal vampires, Myotismon could drain people's knowledge as well as their blood. Carefully, he extracted knowledge from the dead girl's mind. When he'd finished he stood and stared at the sky.  
"So," he murmured "You are here too. Well, this will be very interesting. Very interesting indeed. And even the Digidestined don't know your true identity. And they won't. Not before it's too late for both you, and them."  
Smiling, he glided off into the shadows, leaving Abby's crumpled body in the leaves.  
* * * *  
At breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione discussed what Professor Trelawney had said.  
"If we believe her, Myotismon has what he needs already," Hermione pointed out.  
"It may not be as clear cut as that," Harry argued "We have to warn the others. We should have gone last night!" "You know we couldn't," Hermione said "Professor McGonagall caught us trying to leave. She was prowling around for hours after that. And you and Ron were asleep!"  
Harry and Ron exchanged sheepish glances. They had meant to stay awake but exhaustion had caught up with them and by the time Hermione came to wake them up, they'd both been fast asleep. Attempts to rouse them had been futile. It had been agreed that while Myotismon was out, no one was to go outside on their own so Hermione had gone back to bed. She smiled at the boys sheepish expressions.  
"Don't worry," she said "I don't expect any real harm was done."  
"Harry!"  
It was Matt and Talitha. They were looking panicked.  
"Have you seen Abby?" Talitha asked.  
Harry, Ron and Hermione all shook their heads.  
"I don't think she came back last night!" Talitha said "Her beds not been slept in."  
"Don't worry," Hermione said "Professor McGonagall was prowling around. I expect she went and slept in the Shrieking Shack."   
Talitha looked relived and settled down to eat. Matt looked uncertain.  
"I hope you're right," he muttered.  
"Of course I am," Hermione said "Now sit down and eat something. We've got something to tell you."  
Matt sat down, but he still looked uneasy. No one's fears had really gone away and they kept looking around. Hermione told them about what Professor Trelawney had said. Matt and Talitha listened, wide-eyed.  
"That is not good," Matt said decidedly. Talitha nodded.  
"I wonder what it meant?" she said "Do you think he found someone to help him or...."  
"MATT! MATT!"  
The entire hall went silent as an ear-splitting scream cut though all noise. Then the door opened and TK rushed in.  
"TK!" Matt gasped leaping up "What's wrong?"  
Tears were streaming down TK's face as he flung himself into Matt's arms. Matt ignored everyone's stares and hugged his little brother.  
"What's happened?" he asked.  
"W-We were walking in the forest because w-we were t-tired of the h-house!" TK wailed "We got quite c-close to the e-edge of the f-forest and we thought we'd better go b-back. And t-then we f-found....we f-found...Abby...."  
A feeling of icy horror swept over Matt. Without a word, he deposited TK on the floor and ran out of the hall and outside. He could hear the others following him but he was already running towards the small huddled group of children he could see by the edge of the forest as TK had said.  
As he reached them, they turned to look at him. They were all looking pale and ill and Sora was trying to comfort a sobbing Mimi. Kari was pressed trembling against Tai's legs, tears trickling down her face. Matt had never seen Kari cry before.  
"Matt," Tai said, his voice sounding thick "Matt I'm so sorry...."  
Matt shoved through them and dropped to his knees beside Abby's crumpled body.  
"Abby!" he shouted "Abby! Abetzi Littlewood! Wake up! Wake up! Don't do this to me Abby, please don't do this!"  
He knew it was too late, knew that all the shouting in the world couldn't help Abetzi Littlewood return to her body. He heard the others arriving behind him.  
"What's happened?" he heard Hermione gasp "Oh.....no. No."  
"Abby?" he heard Talitha say "Abby?"  
Matt lifted the cold body in his arms and held her tightly, staring at the ashy face. Behind him, Talitha started to scream. He heard Joe and Izzy try to comfort her but he couldn't look, just kept staring down at Abby's face and the two wounds in the side of her neck where there were tiny traces of blood. Draco was swearing softly, over and over. Ron was trying to soothe Hermione, who was also crying. Harry wasn't making a sound but Matt was certain that his face would be almost as ashy as Abby's was.  
"I'm sorry Abetzi," he whispered "I'm so, so sorry. I let you down. I shouldn't have stormed off like that. I'm sorry..."   
Then Tai was kneeling down next to him, his arms round Matt's shoulders. Carefully, Matt laid Abby down, then buried his face in Tai's shoulder and started to cry. Tai wrapped his arms round his friend and stared at the sky over the top of Matt's head.  
"We'll kill you for this Myotismon," he silently vowed "I'll kill you for hurting my friend like this."  
In the shadows of the trees, Myotismon watching the grieving Digidestined and their friends and smiled.  
  
The End of Part 3  
  
  



	4. Voyage of Discovery

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship  
Voyage of Discovery  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - Oh, they aren't mine. Trust me. Only the plot is mine.  
Warnings - Yeah, yeah, hints of Taito, hints of Drarry (Draco/Harry). Don't worry you Draco/Harry fans, there will be some soon, just hang in there! MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah, okay, there was a character death in the last part too but that was an original character so people probably care less. Should I up the rating?)  
  
The were all sitting in Dumbledore's office, waiting for him to come up and speak to them.   
"Will he be really angry?" TK asked "He won't turn us into frogs will he?"  
"Don't be silly," Sora said "Of course he won't."  
Matt said nothing. He was still trembling slightly. Beside him, Hermione was busy wiping her eyes. Talitha wasn't there. She was in the Hospital Wing, sleeping off her hysterics.  
When Professor Dumbledore walked in, they all stared at him anxiously.  
"Is Talitha okay?" Matt asked instantly.  
"She'll be fine," Dumbledore said gravely "She needs rest."  
He looked round at them all.  
"Now," he said "Who are you all?"  
The Digidestined quietly introduced themselves. Dumbledore nodded and sat down.  
"I would like an explanation," he said to Matt "You may start Yamato, as these are all your friends."  
Matt looked at Tai uncertainly. Tai shrugged. He didn't know whether they should tell Dumbledore or not.  
"The truth please," Dumbledore said, as if guessing their thoughts "This is a very serious matter and if I even suspect that you aren't telling me the whole truth, we shall be forced to use truth serum on you."  
Matt sighed.  
"You won't believe it," he stated.  
"Try me," Dumbledore said.  
Matt began the story, right from the summer camp that had started all his problems. He told Dumbledore everything, with the others adding bits that he left out. Dumbledore listened silently until Matt had finally finished. Then he looked around.  
"Why didn't you inform me immediately?" he asked quietly. Harry winced. He'd only heard Dumbledore sound this serious a few times before and none of those times had been particularly pleasant for him.  
"I didn't think you'd believe me," Matt said, feeling wretched "Abby and Talitha said that Snape hadn't believed them about seeing Myotismon leave the smoke. Why should you believe that we'd been to another world and fought monsters from it?"  
Dumbledore sighed, looking sad.  
"If you knew that Myotismon could kill anyone, you should have informed me," he said "You could possibly be forgiven for this Yamato, given your circumstances, but Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco certainly should have known better."  
Harry stared at his lap. Beside him, Hermione gave another sob.  
"Please Professor," Tai said, trying to sound brave "I know we've done wrong but we don't have time. We have to sort Myotismon out now."  
Dumbledore turned his bright blue eyes to Tai and Tai flushed and shrank backwards slightly.  
"You may be right Taichi," Dumbledore said quietly "Do you know what you are going to do?"  
Tai shook his head.  
"We've been trying to think but so far...." he said.   
Dumbledore nodded.  
"We can do nothing more until Talitha Lions is awake," he said "She will want to be involved or at least know what is happening. In the meantime, I would advise you all going and having some extra rest. Go to the Hospital Wing, there will be less questions asked."  
The group stood up and left the office. Dumbledore looked after them sadly then went over and opened a drawer in his desk. Inside it, were five crests and a digivice. Dumbledore looked at them silently for a moment, then closed the drawer, locked it and went downstairs.  
* * * *  
Matt tossed restlessly in the bed. He couldn't sleep, kept seeing Abby's lifeless body, feeling her cold flesh in his arms.  
Sitting up, he put his head in his arms and rested them on his knees. Why had he stormed off like that? Why? If he'd only stayed, maybe he and Abby would have gone to see the others together, and maybe Abby would still be with them. It was all his fault.  
"Matt?"  
Sitting up, he saw Talitha looking at him.   
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Matt muttered.  
"You didn't," Talitha said "I wasn't asleep. I spat out the Sleeping stuff Madame Pomfrey gave me. I hate those things."  
Matt stared at her. Her face was pale, her cheeks sunken, but she was looking determined.  
"We have to nuke that bastard," she said.  
Matt blinked. It was the first time he ever heard Talitha swear.  
"I know," he said "Tally, I'm sorry."  
"Sorry?" To Matt's surprise, Talitha sounded angry "Why are you sorry?"  
"Well, this is all my fault," Matt said "If I hadn't come.....hadn't made friends with you.....hadn't done whatever I did with that Potion....hadn't stormed out yesterday...."  
He was interrupted by a sharp slap. Talitha was glaring at him.  
"Stop talking rubbish!" she shouted "It wasn't your fault! We choose to make friends with you, it could have been something we did with the Potion, and so you've got a hot temper! Abby shouldn't have gone off alone but that's not your fault! Stop blaming yourself!"  
Matt stared at her. The others were beginning to sit up and watch to. Talitha sighed.  
"Oh Matt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. It's just....it's hard. Abby was my first ever best friend. What am I going to do now?"  
Matt shook his head.  
"That seems a fairly good point," Draco said softly "What are we going to do now?"  
"That's not very sympathetic Draco," Izzy said but Talitha nodded.  
"We have an emergency," she said firmly "We should try to work out what to do next."  
"Hermione, did you find a spell anywhere?" Matt asked.  
Hermione shook her head.  
"Nothing," she said "Nothing we can use anyway. There were a couple of spells that involved entering and creating portholes but none of them made any sense and I doubt they'd get us to the Digital World anyway."  
There was a gloomy pause.  
"Maybe Dumbledore will think of something," Ron said hopefully.  
"He doesn't know Myotismon," Kari said softly.  
* * * *  
Dumbledore was back in his office, holding one of the crests when Myotismon came in.  
"How did you get in here?" Dumbledore asked, with no real surprise.  
"No magic can keep me out of anywhere," Myotismon said "Sorry I didn't knock but I thought I'd surprise you."  
"Thank you," Dumbledore said.  
Myotismon looked at Fawkes who was hopping on his perch, obviously infuriated.  
"Is that your Digimon substitute?" he asked "It's a poor one."  
Dumbledore frowned.  
"Why are you here Myotismon?" he asked.  
"I don't know," Myotismon replied "The Keeper of Friendship must have done something but I don't know what. He must be very powerful though if he could bring me back from wherever I went to. He's a better Keeper than you, Keeper of Peace."  
Dumbledore looked down at his crest and then sighed.  
"I imagine you are going to kill me," he said.  
"How else can I return to the Digital World?" Myotismon countered "I need your energy and your Digivice to travel home. There, I can perform my plans in safety. Contact my one relative. And stop you telling those annoying Digidestined anything."  
Dumbledore stared at Myotismon, who smiled back.  
"You really are similar to him," he said "You don't care for anyone."  
"Well, he is my blood relative," Myotismon said "After Salazarmon came here to start a new life, we kept in touch. His blood line may be depleted but..."  
"He won't work with you," Dumbledore warned.  
"Oh, I think he will when he hears my offer," Myotismon said "But enough of this, Keeper of Peace." He raised his hand "Crimson Lightning!"  
Dumbledore brought his wand up and shouted "Bokadas!", throwing the lightning back at Myotismon. The two enemies prepared for the battle of their lives.  
* * * *  
Harry stood, staring out of the window. Behind him, everyone was asleep again. They'd talked round and round in circles, not getting anywhere, until eventually, Mimi had given up and gone to sleep, reminding everyone of how tired they felt. He heard Matt whimper, as though he was caught in a nightmare then settle down again, as someone murmured something soothing. Whoever it was then walked over to Harry.  
"What are you doing up?"  
It was Draco. Harry turned to face him.  
"I can't sleep," he said "I can't stop thinking about Abby."  
"She looked horrible didn't she?" Draco said softly.  
Harry nodded.  
"It was worse than with Cedric," he whispered "Cedric looked surprised but Abby..."  
"Looked scared out of her wits," Draco said "I know."  
Harry rested his head on the window pane.   
"I can't help feeling sorry for her family and her friends," he said "Especially Matt. He blames himself terribly."  
"With possible good reason," Draco said.  
Harry turned to him. Draco was looking disturbed about something.  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.  
"Promise you tell anyone?" Draco said "I'll say something eventually but now really isn't the time for them all to know."  
Harry nodded.  
Draco sighed.  
"I got a letter from Father today," he said "He said that while my mother was watching the stars, she had a premonition."  
Catching sight of Harry's face, he grinned slightly "My mother's a proper seer, Potter. Not like Trelawney." Then his smile faded "Well, she's almost a proper seer. Everything she gets is so cryptic, it's almost impossible to work out. But anyway. Father told me exactly what she said to see if I had any ideas. This is what she said."  
Draco produced the letter and read it quietly out loud.  
"Darkness calls darkness,  
When friends are hard to come by,  
Danger threatens all,  
If Friendship fails,  
Mending is hard,  
Venom-Black calls,  
Darkness returns,  
Dear ones lost."  
Harry stared at Draco who continued.  
"Father also told me one last thing," he said quietly "I sent him the recipe for the Potion that Ishida, Littlewood and Lions accidentally concocted. It's powerful dark magic Potter. That's why Granger couldn't find it. It's called a Venom-Black Potion. If you look in it, with darkness in your heart, you can summon up terrible things from your past. It varies on what type of darkness you are thinking of but..."  
Harry kept staring at him. Draco swallowed, and carried on.  
"Ishida was having problems settling in here Potter," he said "In case you hadn't noticed. He rejected everybody around him. I think something happened that he didn't tell us about. Anyway, his crest is the Crest of Friendship. I think that's why it broke, because he wasn't feeling any friendship at the time. And although when they made the Potion, Ishida was friends with Littlewood and Lions, there was still anger in his heart. Obviously, it brought Myotismon up. The only thing is, Myotismon isn't like most memories. He's Digital and very powerful. My guess is, somehow he managed to lock himself into this reality. In a way, he was simply a memory then. But now he's killed Littlewood and that centaur and God-knows what else in the forest...." Draco's voice trailed off.  
"He's real now?" Harry said.  
Draco nodded.  
"I expect so," he said "So you see, in a way, it was Ishida's mistake, although he didn't mean it."  
Harry sighed.  
"That's what Trelawney said," he said "Many will suffer for the Keeper's mistake."  
"Well, she's got that right," Draco said.  
The two boys stood, staring out of the window. They could see Hagrid teaching a class about Nifflers.  
Neither of them saw Matt slip out of his bed and leave the Hospital Wing.  
* * * *  
Matt was lucky no one saw him as he wandered blindly out of the school. They'd have sent him back to the Hospital Wing in a heartbeat. He looked pale and his normally perfect hair was sticking up all over the place. Slowly, he walked into the forest, his mind in turmoil.  
'It wasn't my fault' he told himself 'I didn't know what would happen...'  
Draco's words came back to him.  
'I think something happened he didn't tell us about...'  
His father's voice 'I know you're uneasy about going Matt but your mother and I think it's the best decision.'  
His own 'But I don't want to leave! It's not fair! Why didn't you ask me first?'  
'We didn't think you could look at it objectively enough. Naturally you don't want to leave your friends but....'  
'That's not the point! You should have asked! Now I've got no choice have I because you and Mother had made your minds up! Now I've got to leave TK and Tai and all the others! I've already lost one close friend this summer and now you're taking me away from the others!'  
'Matt, you're overreacting...'  
'I'm not overreacting! You always do this, everytime! Everytime I get close to something, it gets snatched away! Well fine, I've learned my lesson, I won't get close to anything again! Now I'll go start packing!'  
'Yamato....'  
'See you later Dad!'  
With a sigh, Matt slumped down on the forest floor and began to play his harmonica.  
* * * *  
Madame Pomfrey began to wake the group up when it got to dinner time, insisting that they ate. She paused beside Matt's empty bed.  
"Where's Mr. Ishida?" she asked.  
There was a pause.  
"We don't know," Harry said "I didn't hear him go anywhere and I've been awake for ages."  
"He had a nightmare some time back," Draco said "But he seemed okay. He didn't wake up."  
"Has something happened?" TK asked looking worried.  
"Surely he knows better than to wander off," Talitha said, looking concerned.  
"Do we even know the same person?" Ron asked.  
"Maybe he's gone to the toilet or something," Joe suggested.  
"Maybe," Madame Pomfrey said.   
But her face mirrored everyone's looks of concern.  
* * * *  
Matt wasn't sure how long he sat there playing his harmonica. He just suddenly stopped when something pecked his leg. Hard.  
"OW!" Matt yelled, jerking away. He looked at the bright red-and-gold bird sitting on the floor beside him. As soon as he started looking at it, it fluttered into the air and began flying round him agitatedly.  
"Aren't you Dumbledore's bird?" Matt asked it.  
The bird fluttered even more agitatedly.  
"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Matt said. Shoving the harmonica in his pocket, he followed the bird. It led him into the school and fluttered round the statue. Matt frowned, trying to remember the password.  
"Coconut Cauldron Cakes," he said eventually.  
The statue sprang aside and Matt went up the stairs. To his surprise, the door was already open. As he stepped inside, a gasp escaped him.  
The room was a shambles. Everything had been thrown around or burned or seriously damaged. Professor Dumbledore lay beside his desk.  
"Professor!" Matt shouted, running over "Professor!"  
Dumbledore opened his eyes and smiled slightly. The bird flew down beside him and he stroked it's chest gently.  
"Good old Fawkes," he said "I knew he'd find somebody....before the end..."  
"The end?" Matt said "No! I'll go and get help or something! But you can't die!"  
Dumbledore shook his head.  
"Too late now," he said "Matt, I need you to hear this now before I go. Sit still and listen."  
Matt obeyed and listened as Dumbledore spoke.  
"When I was young, I went to Hogwarts," he said "I loved it there. I even had my own gang of sorts; Maranella Figbee, Frazer Forest, Cuthbert Bones and Daphne Jakes. We were almost inseparable, even though Daphne was a year younger than us. Then one day, we found five strange devices on the ground. Digivices."  
"Digivices!" Matt gasped.  
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed "Like you and your friends, we were sucked into the Digital World to defeat the evils there. We were given our crests. Mine was the Crest of Peace. Maranella had the Crest of Trust, Frazer had the Crest of Compassion, Cuthbert had the Crest of Renewal and Daphne had the Crest of Life."  
He shuddered violently and Matt stared at him, not knowing what to do. Dumbledore's shudders stopped but when he continued, his voice was weaker.  
"We were fighting Sophusmon, a deadly Digimon who attacked the mind. However, we had nearly defeated her when she showed us what she thought could destroy us. The truth about the founders of Hogwarts."  
"What was it?" Matt asked.  
Dumbledore sighed.  
"The founders of Hogwarts," he said "Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin were Digimon. They somehow broke though the barrier a long time ago. They were all relatively human shaped and no one ever realised. Their true names were Gryffinmon, Helgarmon, Ravenmon and Salazarmon. They changed their names to fit Earth and founded Hogwarts, using their attacks to make magic. I don't know how they did it, even now. But they did. Sophusmon thought that would destroy us. But it didn't. It united us more, determined not to let them down. We won eventually and were sent back to our own world. But before we did, we met the Entity."  
"We've met her too," Matt said.  
Dumbledore sighed.  
"She used Daphne's body to talk to us," he said "She told us that we would not return to the Digital World. She said that I was the guard the crests until it was time to deliver them to the next ones. So I have. All this time, I guarded the crests. And now it's time...."  
He reached into his pocket and removed the five crests."  
"Harry's is the Crest of Peace," he said "Ron's is the Crest of Trust. Hermione has the Crest of Compassion. Draco gets the Crest of Renewal. Talitha gets the Crest of Life."  
Matt took the crests slowly.  
"Are they...." he said slowly "Are they Digidestined?"  
"No," Dumbledore said "They are not Digidestined. However, the only way they can protect themselves from evil Digimon is by using their magic through the crests. Make sure they understand...." his voice broke off again.  
"Professor!" Matt said "Professor, what happened here?"  
"Myotismon," Dumbledore said, his voice barely above a whisper now "He needed my Digivice to return to the Digital World. He is going to contact his relative."  
"What relative?" Matt asked.  
"Salazarmon and Myotismon were brothers," Dumbledore said "Salazar Slytherin's blood line has survived to this day in the form of Lord Voldemort."  
Matt stiffened, thinking of the stories he'd been told. He hadn't been afraid before but someone related to Myotismon, no matter how faintly....  
"If Myotismon and Voldemort make contact," Dumbledore said "The results will be catastrophic. You must not allow it to happen!"  
Matt nodded. Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment.  
"Matt," he said "Matt, listen to me. You must use your own Digivices to return to the Digital World. There, you must trace your Digimon and defeat Myotismon again....."  
"Professor?" Matt gasped as Dumbledore shut his eyes again "Professor!"  
Dumbledore's eyes opened a crack.  
"Matt," he said "Myotismon will use.....all of your strength.....if he can.... don't...let....him....use......you....."  
His voice trailed away and his head feel limply on one side.   
Matt sat there, his hands curled tightly round the crests, his brain whirling. Eventually, he went downstairs and told Professor McGonagall (who was nearest) that Professor Dumbledore was dead. He was taken back to the Hospital Wing where he told the other's the same thing. There was instant uproar and hysterics on all sides but Matt ignored it all. He simply felt numb.  
* * * *  
Harry sat on his bed, his legs curled up underneath him. The room was silent now but no one was sleeping. Hermione was under her blankets, her face completely hidden. Ron had gone out to look after Ginny. No one else was speaking. The other Digidestined weren't really sure what to do. They hadn't known Dumbledore much but they knew that the others had and didn't want to cause offence. Matt was staring at the ceiling, his eyes blank. Harry knew that Matt had found Dumbledore and didn't want to know how Matt must be feeling right now.  
"Are you all right Harry?"  
It was Draco, staring down at him anxiously. Harry shook his head. To his amazement, Draco timidly sat next to him and put an arm around him. Harry considered shrugging him off but instead he leant against him. Draco rubbed his arms and shoulders sympathetically.  
"I can't believe he's dead," Harry said softly "Who's going to protect the school from Voldemort now?"  
Before Draco could answer, Matt spoke.  
"Voldemort," he said "Dumbledore told me to tell you this. We need to find Ron."  
"He's looking after Ginny," Harry said "Is it very important?"  
Matt nodded. He sat up and removed the crests from his pocket. Tai's eyes widened.  
"More crests! Where did you get those?"  
"Dumbledore," Matt said.  
Harry pulled away from Draco and walked over to Matt's bed. The others followed except Hermione who remained under her covers. Harry had a feeling she was asleep and didn't want to wake her.   
"They're for you lot," Matt explained "This one's yours Harry - the Crest of Peace. This one belongs to Draco - the Crest of Renewal. Hermione gets the Crest of Compassion and Ron gets the Crest of Trust. Talitha's is the Crest of Life."  
Harry took his crest and looked at it. It was three wavy lines, like waves. Talitha's crest was what looked like a twisting spiral that tapered down to a point. Draco's crest had what looked like a egg with a crack down it.  
"Where did they come from?" Talitha asked.  
Matt took a deep breath and told them what Dumbledore had told him, trying not to miss anything out. When he told them that the founders of Hogwarts had been Digimon, Hermione sat up from her bed where she'd been listening and came over.  
"It makes sense," she said, absently picking up her crest (a diamond shape surrounded by tiny circles) "It says in all the books that there was something strange about them. Like Salazar Slytherin being able to talk to snakes. And everyone says that Godric Gryffindor had a head of hair like a lions mane."  
Matt continued with the story. When he explained about Voldemort and Myotismon, Harry swore so loudly that Madame Pomfrey came in from the side room to tell him off. Matt waited until she'd gone away again before finishing the story.  
"So our Digivices can get us back to the Digiworld," Tai said, looking at his thoughtfully.  
"That's what Dumbledore said," Matt said, looking at his own.  
"So that interfering fool did manage to tell you," a voice said from the doorway "I obviously didn't kill him enough."  
Harry didn't even need TK's exclamation to know that the blonde man in the doorway was Myotismon.  
"You!" Tai said angrily "You shouldn't be in here!"  
"I go where I please, Digidestined brat," Myotismon replied, walking more into the room. Hermione backed away slightly, followed by Mimi. Matt got off his bed and stood glaring at Myotismon.  
"You killed Abby!" he said.  
"The girl?" Myotismon said "Yes. Poor little thing, she was an idiot. She warned me that the other Digidestined were here."  
"You creep!" Talitha shouted "I bet you tricked her!"  
Madame Pomfrey marched out of her room.  
"What is going on?" she demanded angrily, then stopped when she saw Myotismon. Everyone ignored her.  
"She was very useful though," Myotismon said "Without her, I wouldn't have know Albus Dumbledore was here and I wouldn't know how to get back to my own world, or how to trace my relative."  
"Your relative!" Harry said "I hope he kills you!"  
Myotismon gave him a scornful look at then turned to Matt.  
"And you, Keeper of Friendship," he said "I believe it is you I must thank for returning me to my body."  
Matt turned red and glared at him. Myotismon smiled.  
"Yes," he said "I do appreciate the favour. Let me thank you by not killing you instantly!"  
"Uh oh," Sora gasped.  
"Crimson Lightning!" Myotismon shouted and flung his hand at them. Everyone scattered and the Crimson Lightning made short work of the bed.  
"Run!" Tai yelled "Get out everyone, quickly!"  
Talitha hurled a jug of water over Myotismon, a fairly pitiful gesture but it distracted him long enough for Kari, TK, Hermione and Mimi to dash out of the door. Talitha zigzagged around the beds and followed them hastily, dragging Izzy with her. Joe wasn't far behind them, pulling Madame Pomfrey with him. This only left Harry, Draco, Tai, Matt and Sora who were too far away from door to make a quick escape. Myotismon glared at them.  
"So, your friends have run away, leaving you to suffer my wrath," he said.  
Tai clenched his fists and stared at Myotismon bravely, or as bravely as he could.  
"We're not afraid of you!" he said.  
Myotismon laughed scornfully.  
"No?" he said "What a pity. Grizzly Wing!"  
The group scattered again to avoid the bats. Sora fell over and got tangled in some fallen bedsheets. Desperately, she began to struggle with them, watching the others helplessly. As Matt dodged away from the bats, Myotismon seized his wrist, gripping it tightly. Matt yelled in pain and then began yelling things in Japanese at Myotismon that Harry didn't understand, or particularly want to, given the fact that though her fear, an expression of slight shock had appeared on Sora's face.  
Tai, being Tai, threw himself at Myotismon as soon as he saw that the Digimon had Matt in a firm grip which Matt couldn't free himself from. He began battering at Myotismon with his fists, his own yells of anger mingling with Matt's yells of pain.   
"Night Rope!" Myotismon shouted. The black rope whipped out, snapping round the two furious boys.  
"Tai, no!" Sora cried, ripping at the sheets tangled round her legs "Harry, Draco, do something!"  
Harry swallowed, trying to think of a spell that he could use. As he paused, Myotismon pointed at him and shouted Night Rope again. This time it snapped round Harry. Myotismon moved forward. Seizing hold of Harry, he tucked both him and Matt and Tai under his arms and then flew out of the window.  
"NO!" Sora yelled. She rushed to the window, Draco behind her.   
Myotismon was hovering in the air, Matt, Tai and Harry still under his arms.  
"I'll see you soon Digidoomed!" he shouted triumphantly.  
Sora and Draco could only watch helplessly as Myotismon produced the digivice from his pocket. It began to glow, shinning brightly. As they watched, it turned into a strange sort of hole, though which they could see the Digiworld. Laughing, Myotismon flew though the hole, taking Matt, Tai and Harry with him.  
"Taiiiiiii!" Sora cried from Draco's side.  
But there was nothing either of them could do, except watch Myotismon disappear and the hole close up behind him.  
  
Part 4 completed, Part 5 on the way!  
  
  



	5. The Web of Fear

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship  
The Web of Fear  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - Christ, these things are annoying! NO, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! SATISFIED NOW?!  
  
By the way, in 'Voyage of Discovery''s warnings, (how do you say that anyway? If you write 'Voyage of Discoveries, it sounds like that's the title when it isn't. Another one of the those questions to keep me awake at night) I mentioned (as a joke) Drarry - eg Draco/Harry with Draco as the seme or whatever it is. Apparently, some people found this absolutely traumatising *coughBlackGoddesscough* and I have to reassure you all that it was only a joke and will never be mentioned again.  
Oh yeah and there are very, very, very, VERY slight hints at Taiora in this fic (breathe, you Taito fans, breathe. I didn't intend for them to sneak in but they have). Sora knows that there's absolutely no hope for her and Tai, she knows Tai likes Matt. But she likes him in vain. And Tai's as oblivious as a duck in the rain!  
  
There's some not-all-that-graphic torture in this part and big, big, BIG! jabs at Taito (okay, less jabs, more smashing hammer blows the knock the point in!) and even bigger jabs at Draco/Harry. Don't worry guys, they'll get there eventually!  
  
A quick 'the story so far' for anyone with short memories. Matt Ishida has been sent to join Hogwarts. After a rocky beginning, he befriended Abetzi Littlewood (Abby) and Talitha Lions. However, their accidental creation of a Venom-Black Potion brought Myotismon back from wherever he went when the Digidestined destroyed him. Matt called the Digidestined with the aid of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy. The Digidestined arrived in England ready to defeat Myotismon again. However, Myotismon was on the rampage, and after killing a bunch of centaurs, he kills Abby. Abby's death forced the Digidestined to reveal themselves to Dumbledore who listens to their story seriously before sending them to the Hospital Wing to rest while he thought. Later, after he left the Hospital wing, Matt was called up to the office again by Fawkes, where he found Dumbledore dying after Myotismon attacked him. Dumbledore revealed that he and his friends were the original Digidestined and he had kept their crests for the wizards in the group. They have to use their magic though the crests to have any effect on the Digimon that may attack them. After Matt had revealed this to the others, Myotismon attacked them in the Hospital Wing. He then returned to the Digital World, taking Matt, Tai and Harry with him. Uh oh....  
  
Sora and Draco eventually found the others in Gryffindor tower where they'd been watching Myotismon's departure from the window. Everyone else in the tower was talking animatedly and no one seemed to notice that Draco didn't belong in there.  
"What are we going to do?" Ron asked "We have to save them."  
"Before we can save them, we have to follow them and find out Digimon!" Izzy pointed out "I don't know how to do either of those! Do you?"  
There was an unhappy pause.  
"This is useless!" Mimi wailed "We've lost Abby and Dumbledore and now we've lost Tai, Matt and Harry too!"  
"Don't be stupid!" Draco snapped "We haven't lost them! Myotismon didn't kill them so he must have a use for them in the Digiworld. We can still save them!"  
"Oh, you'd know all about how someone evil looks at things!" Ron snapped.  
Draco's eyes flared black dangerously "Say that again Weasley, if you dare!"  
"I said...." Ron began but Sora cut it.  
"Stop it, both of you! Fighting between ourselves won't help! We have to fight this together! And the first thing to do is fill Ron in."  
She told Ron what Matt had told them, giving him his Crest of Trust (a hand holding up all five fingers). Ron listened quietly. At the end he said;  
"Well, if that's true then we're all in this together. Sorry Malfoy."  
"It's Draco," Draco said "And I'm sorry too Ron."  
Ron blushed a little but didn't say anything. The other Digidestined were looking at their Digivices.  
"What do you think we have to do?" Mimi asked.  
Everyone looked at Izzy.  
"Oh, like I'm supposed to know that," Izzy said.  
"Well, we've got to work it out," TK said "We have to! Anything could be happening to Matt and the others right now."  
* * * *   
At that moment, Matt was regaining consciousness in a dark cell. Groaning, he sat up, gingerly touching his aching head and trying to remember what had happened. It was all very blurred but he dimly remembered Myotismon grabbing his arm then snapping some sort of rope round him. After that, things got hazy but he seemed to remember coming though some sort of opening. That was last he remembered.  
"Tai?" he called "Harry?"  
There was no answer. Matt looked around but the cell was only small and there was no one else in it.  
"Well, well, well. Sleeping beauty finally stirs."  
Matt stiffened at the sound of the unwelcome voice before turning. Myotismon was watching him.  
"Where am I? What have you done with the others? " Matt demanded.  
"You are in my new abode in the Digital World," Myotismon said "The others...well, they are also here."  
"Where are they?" Matt shouted.  
"They are quite safe," Myotismon said. Then he paused "Well, Taichi is anyway and he is who you are really worried about."  
"I'm worried about Harry too!" Matt snapped "How would you know who I worry about?"  
Myotismon smiled  
"You all talk in your sleep," he said.  
Matt couldn't help blushing just by the way Myotismon said it.   
"Well, it's not your fault," Myotismon said condescendingly "When I want it to, the Night Rope always brings on a deep unconsciousness where true thoughts are revealed. You've all had some fascinating thoughts in there. I've enjoyed listening to them."  
Matt blushed even more, a mixture of horror that Myotismon probably knew some of his greatest secrets and anger that Myotismon probably knew some of his greatest secrets.  
"You don't know anything!" he yelled at the vampire-Digimon "Nothing at all! I want to know what's happened to Harry!"  
Myotismon sighed.  
"Harry is probably safe," he said "But I'm not so sure really. It all depends on what Voldemort wants to do to him...."  
Matt's blood froze.  
"Voldemort?" he repeated.  
"Oh yes," Myotismon said "Dumbledore was wrong you see. Voldemort has agreed to help me for several reasons, most of which I am not going to disclose to you. However, my being able to give him Harry certainly helped...."  
"You bastard!" Matt yelled "You filthy, rotten, corrupted..."  
Myotismon listened to the flow of insults for a few minutes before getting bored. Waving his hand, his Night Rope snapped Matt across the face, sending him flying against the back wall of the cell. Matt hit it with a crunch and then fell to the floor of the cell, stunned. Myotismon unlocked the door and walked in, standing over Matt's body.  
"If you continue to annoy me," he told the boy "I shall be forced to take more drastic measures to keep you quiet. Do you understand?"  
Matt was winded and trying to get his breath back but he still glared at Myotismon defiantly.  
"Why....don't you.....just....kill....me....now?" he gasped out.  
"I could do that," Myotismon agreed "But there are better things that I can do with you, most of which require you alive."  
"Such as what?" Matt asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.  
"That would be telling," Myotismon said "However, while I need you, I do not really need your Digidestined friend, Taichi. If you continue to upset me, he will suffer."  
Turning, he swept out of the cell, leaving Matt feeling very ill at ease behind him.  
* * * *  
Harry woke up slowly, deciding that he hadn't felt this bad since Lord Voldemort had risen again. He sat up, trying not to be sick.  
"So, young Potter is awake I see," a voice said.  
Slowly, Harry looked up at the figure that was standing in his cell.   
Lord Voldemort.  
Harry swallowed and said nothing. He noticed that Voldemort's face, which had always looked like a snake's, now looked more snake-like than ever. Beside him, Voldemort's pet snake Nagini hissed.   
"So," Voldemort said "Letting yourself get captured by Myotismon. Very careless. I thought better of you Potter, truly I did."  
Harry still remained silent.  
"And all those inner thoughts you bared while sleeping," Voldemort continued "Lucius Malfoy will be interested to hear what you really think of his son."  
"It's no secret," Harry said before he could stop himself "Everyone knows we hate each other."  
Voldemort raised an eyebrow. Well, Harry assumed that was what he was doing, the complete lack of eyebrows made it hard to tell.  
"So you're still in denial about it?" he said "Well, I can't say I blame you, I doubt anyone's going to be all that pleased about it..."  
"All that pleased about what? I'm not in denial!" Harry snapped, then remembered that he wasn't speaking to Voldemort and went quiet. Voldemort smiled.  
"Think about it Potter," he said "Now....I need to decide. Kill you or not?"  
Harry gritted his teeth as Voldemort looked thoughtful.  
"Well, Myotismon may have some use for you. He has something planned for that Keeper of Faith anyway....but he's keeping the other child around for that. So he's unlikely to need you....what's that around your neck?"  
Harry glanced down. The chain to his new crest was visible. Stepping forward, Voldemort caught hold of it and looked at it.  
"A crest!" he hissed "But you aren't a Digidestined....where did you get this?"  
Harry said nothing. Voldemort glared at him. Then he brought out his wand and murmured "Sonorus!" then called "Myotismon!"  
His voice echoed, magically magnified and a few moments later, Myotismon arrived. Voldemort pointed the wand at his throat and whispered "Quietus!"  
"I think you meant Lord Myotismon," he said, a little icily "But I shall let it pass this time. What is it?"  
In reply, Voldemort showed him Harry's crest. Myotismon's eyes widened and then he looked at Harry.  
"Where did you get this?" he asked.  
Harry said nothing.  
"Where did you get this?" Myotismon repeated "This is not another Digidestined's crest for they would never give theirs up. So what is it?"  
Harry gritted his teeth. Voldemort pointed his wand at him and said "Crucio!" Harry screamed in pain. His screams echoed all over the castle, causing Matt to tremble in his cell, his thoughts automatically flying to Tai before wondering if it was Harry. Voldemort waited a few moments, then removed the curse. Harry lay shivering on the floor.  
"Impressive," Myotismon said "Where did you get the crest boy? And what does it symbolise?"  
Harry still wouldn't speak. Myotismon suddenly looked considering. He stopped Voldemort before he could curse Harry again.  
"We may need him alive and in good health depending on how things develop," he said "If this boy has a crest, then the other Digidestined will know about it. The Keeper of Friendship will sing like a canary if we threaten the Keeper of Courage and if that fails, then we'll have accelerate our plans for him slightly, that's all."  
The two left the cell. Harry stared after then, hoping that Matt was hardier than they thought.  
* * * *  
Back in Hogwarts, the group were down at supper. Everyone was very quiet and most people were watching them rather than eating. Not that the Digi-group were eating anyway. Talitha was building little piles with her food rather than eating it and Ron wasn't touching his at all. Draco was staring off into the distance, his face thoughtful. Izzy was trying to make his lap-top work. Hermione had told him it was pointless about six times but Izzy needed something to distract him and he insisted that nothing was impossible. Sora was playing with her Digivice, trying to work out if there was anyway of making it work.   
"This is useless!" she said finally "I can't make it do anything."  
Draco picked it up and looked at it. The Digivice lay in his hand. Shrugging, he spun it round absently, thinking.   
Draco was thinking about Harry. He had been thinking about Harry ever since this had started. Well, to be fair, he'd been thinking of Harry since the summer. What he though, he didn't really like.  
Draco was beginning to realise that he had a crush on Harry Potter.  
It had been gradually building up ever since the end of fourth year. Draco had found himself feeling sorry for Harry over what had happened with Voldemort. He'd kept these thoughts closely to himself, making sure to show the right amount of dislike around everyone. But inside, his feelings were growing. He'd been glad for the excuse to join forces with Harry over this Myotismon thing. He enjoyed comforting him, and not only that, had sincerely wanted to help Harry feel better. And now Harry was gone....  
'Get real Draco' he told himself 'Potter won't look at you twice! He hates you remember?'  
But did Harry hate him? Recently, they'd even been becoming friends. And Harry had let Draco comfort him...  
'Um, hello Draco?' the little voice in his head said 'He still hates you! He still thinks you're evil! Remember?'  
Draco bit his lip thoughtfully. Well, maybe he could try. He could change himself completely. Renew himself in Harry and his friend's eyes.  
Renewal....  
"LOOK!"  
Draco's eyes snapped open and he stared. The Digivice in his hand was glowing and growing hot.  
"You've done it!" Sora yelled "What did you do?"  
For a second, Draco didn't even know. He felt slightly off put by the entire school whispering and staring. Then he guessed.  
"Your crests!" he yelled "I was thinking about Renewal! You have to be sincerely thinking about the quality your crest symbolises while holding the Digivice!" "Prodigious!" Izzy shouted. He put his lap-top back on his back and gripped his Digivice which started to glow almost immediately. The other's produced their own Digivices and focused. Ron, Hermione, Sora and Talitha simply watched as the light around them all began to grow. Then suddenly, there was a sharp ripping noise and then....  
"An opening!" Mimi squealed "We can get though!"  
"Ron, Hermione, Talitha, Sora! You go first!" Izzy shouted "We may need to keep it open and you four aren't!"  
Ron carefully stepped though the hole. He felt a strange feeling as though something was running though him and staggered slightly.  
Then he was looking back though at the Hogwarts Great Hall. Beside him, Hermione gasped. Sora and Talitha scrambled though, followed by TK and Kari who had insisted on coming next. Then Draco came though the rip, then Izzy, then Mimi and then last of all, Joe.  
"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall shouted. She was running towards the hole even as it began to close up.  
"Don't worry!" Ron yelled "We'll be back soon! And we'll be fine!"  
Then the hole closed completely and they couldn't see Hogwarts anymore.  
* * * *  
Matt was escorted out of his cell by two strange brown Digimon with long noses who said that they were called Womblemon. He was taken along the castle and into a hall. The hall was long and Matt had to admit it was impressive. Slowly he looked around him. Myotismon was sitting at the top of the hall on a throne thing. The man with a face like a snake sitting beside him on a similar throne could only be Voldemort. He could see figures standing nearby, all hooded and robed. And huddled on the floor next to Voldemort...  
"Tai!"  
Tai weakly looked up and gave Matt a feeble smile. Even from the distance, Matt could see that his friend was in pain. Someone had hit him with something in the face which left a long red mark across it and one of his eyes was half closed. Myotismon beckoned and the Womblemon escorted Matt to the thrones. Myotismon smiled down at Matt who was staring anxiously at Tai.   
"In case you were wondering, your friend Harry is perfectly fine," he said "Not very forth-coming but still alive for the time being."  
Matt swallowed and stared defiantly at them. He blinked in surprise as Myotismon produced the crest that Matt had given to Harry.  
"What is this?" Voldemort asked.  
Matt said nothing. If they didn't know, he certainly wasn't going to tell them anything.  
"Why does Potter have it?" Voldemort demanded.  
"That's none of your business," Matt said, accurately but slightly unwisely given the circumstances.  
"Oh really?" Voldemort said. He brought out his want "You'll answer me boy whether you want to or not. Imperio!"  
A strange floating sensation washed over Matt and he felt utterly relaxed for the first time in ages. He could hear a voice faintly speaking to him "Tell us about the crest..."  
That was easy enough. Matt opened his mouth to comply then stopped. A little voice at the back of his mind was speaking up.  
You don't want to do that it was saying. Evil, remember.  
"Tell us about the crest..."  
Incredibly faintly, Matt could hear a voice shouting "No Matt, don't tell them anything! You mustn't - ack!"  
'Tai?'  
The thought penetrated the fog round Matt's mind. Someone was hurting Tai.   
"The crest..."  
Matt blinked dizzily and looked around, his memory returning. Tai was lying on the floor, obviously having received a kick from someone.  
"Tell us about the crest," Voldemort ordered again.  
"No way!" Matt yelled "You can't control me like that!"  
Tai grinned.  
"Nice one Matt," he said "I knew they couldn't control you - ow!"  
One of the Death Eaters had kicked him again, sending him sprawling. Voldemort was fuming but Myotismon put a calming hand on his shoulder.  
"As you will not tell us willingly," he said "We shall be forced to use other methods to make you talk."  
"I won't tell you anything!" Matt snapped.  
"Really?" Myotismon said "Lord Voldemort? Do the honours."  
Smiling unpleasantly, Voldemort turned to Tai. Pointing, he said "Crucio!"  
Tai screamed. Matt had never heard his friend scream like that before, ever. As he watched in horror, Tai twisted and writhed on the floor. Then Voldemort stopped and Tai lay sobbing in pain.  
"If you do not tell us about the crest and why Harry Potter has one," Myotismon said "We shall continue torturing your friend until you do!"  
Matt gritted his teeth and looked at Tai. As he did, Voldemort muttered the curse again and Tai went into fresh spasms of pain. Matt could feel tears building as watched Tai convulse.   
"Shall I stop, Keeper of Friendship?" Voldemort asked lazily "Or do you want to continue watching your friend's pain?"  
Matt hung his head helplessly. He hated to see his friend suffer so much. He didn't think that he could stand it.  
"Stop," he whispered "Please."  
Tai's screams stopped, leaving the room silent. Myotismon and Voldemort were watching Matt expectantly. Matt swallowed.  
"Before he died, Dumbledore gave me the crest," he whispered "The only way that Harry could fight or protect himself from any evil Digimon would be to use his magic though the crest."  
"What does it symbolise?" Myotismon asked.  
"Peace," Matt said.  
"And his friends?" Myotismon said "Do they also have crests?"  
"No," Matt said.  
"You're lying," Myotismon said flatly "If you lie, your friend will suffer. Do the others have crests?"  
Matt hesitated a moment. Seeing Voldemort's wand inching towards Tai again, he quickly said "Yes. They symbolise Trust, Compassion, Renewal and Life."  
Myotismon and Voldemort smiled at each other. Matt kept his head down so they couldn't see his ashamed face. He'd just let everyone down. But he couldn't let them hurt Tai!   
"Thank you for your information," Myotismon said "Now, we have another plan for you..."  
"What?" Matt asked.  
Myotismon smiled.  
"That would be telling," he said thoughtfully. Then he gestured at the Womblemon "Take him back to his cell!" he ordered "I will summon him here when everything is ready."  
Matt twisted his head round as he was led out and noticed that Tai was unconscious. He hadn't heard anything of what had just happened.  
* * * *  
Ron was feeling fed up. They'd been wandering round for what seemed like hours now, and they hadn't even seen one Digimon.  
"They are here," Izzy kept insisting "We just haven't seen them."  
"If only we knew where our Digimon are," Mimi said mournfully.  
"Yeah," Joe agreed "If only we could call them on the phone."  
"Couldn't Izzy send an D-mail or whatever?" Ron said "My feet hurt!"  
"Send an E-mail to what exactly?" Izzy asked moodily "As far as I know, only Genii sends us anything and he contacts us, not the other way round."  
Ron scowled sulkily.  
"Well fighting's no use," Joe said hastily "Let's keep - arragh!"  
Everyone turned. A huge Digimon was staring at them menacingly. It looked somewhat like a Stegosaurus only with a larger head and longer teeth. Izzy looked at him lap-top.  
"It's a Mateeamon," he said "Normally pretty placid unless you've strayed onto it's territory."  
"Um, just wondering," Joe said "Would this be his territory?"  
The Digidestined turned and ran, the Mateeamon hot on their heels.  
"It's gaining on us!" Hermione shouted.  
"I noticed!" Ron yelled back.  
"What will it do if it catches us?" Draco asked.  
"I don't know," Joe said "And I have an idea. Let's not find out!"  
"Look!" Sora shouted.  
They were approaching an unclimbable cliff face. There was no way up. No way of escape. The Mateeamon stood in front of them. Opening it's mouth, it gave an ear-splitting shriek.  
"Uh oh," Kari said.  
The group pressed themselves into the cliff face as the Mateeamon prepared to charge.  
"Dazzling Web!" a voice bellowed. The Mateeamon screamed as a copper coloured web slammed onto it. Turning it ran. The Digidestined turned to see who or what had saved them.  
Hovering in mid-air was a humanoid Digimon. He had long brown-red hair that blew loose around his face, only held back by a headband which was plain red ribbon with one crystal in the front. He two small wings like hummingbird wings protruding from his back. He was covered in feathers all over, but the skin they could see was creamy white with blue patterns like henna tattoos all over. He was holding a pipe in his hands. He flew down to them.  
"Are you the Digidestined?" he asked, his voice deep and resonant.  
"Yes, as a matter of fact, we are," Sora said.  
"Most of us," Ron muttered.  
"You will come with me," the Digimon said.  
It wasn't a request but Izzy protested anyway.  
"Why should we?" he asked.  
"Yeah," Draco agreed "We don't know you."  
The Digimon smiled.  
"I am Taliesinmon," he said "As to you coming with me....do you really have much choice?"  
The group looked at each other. Then slowly they walked over to Taliesinmon.  
* * * *  
Matt was not pleased when the Womblemon returned to get him. He allowed himself to be led back to the Great Hall where Myotismon and Voldemort were waiting. He noticed unhappily that Tai was still chained up at the feet of the thrones. He gave Matt a tiny smile and a wink to show he was fine. Matt looked at Myotismon.  
"What do you want now?" he asked, forcing himself to sound calm but letting anger creep in. Myotismon smiled.  
"Your help," he said calmly "The castle is in a valley."  
"Yeah, so?" Matt said "See if I care where your rotten castle is."  
"We want to make in impenetrable in case your friends come to rescue you," Myotismon said. "Which they won't," Voldemort put in.  
"Don't under estimate them," Myotismon warned "The Digidestined are very clever."  
Voldemort frowned. Myotismon looked at Matt.  
"You are going to help us," he said.  
"No!" Matt said "I won't help you!"  
"Won't you?" Myotismon said.  
"No!"  
Myotismon shrugged. Then he walked over to Tai. Tai pressed backwards, glaring defiantly at Myotismon. Reaching out, Myotismon pushed Tai's head on one side, revealing Tai's pale neck. Matt suddenly realised what Myotismon was going to do and tried to run forwards but he was stopped by the Womblemon, who clutched at him, preventing him from moving. Myotismon sank his teeth into Tai's neck. Tai gave a sharp whimper and then went limp in Myotismon's arms as the vampire sucked at his neck.  
"NO!" Matt yelled, struggling violently "NO, NO, NO! STOP! TAI! TAI!"  
Myotismon drew back, Tai's blood on his lips. Tai lay still, his face white and his eyes closed. Matt stood staring at him, trembling.  
"And here I was thinking you only cared for yourself," Myotismon said a little mockingly.  
"You know I don't feel that," Matt said "Is he..."  
"No," Myotismon said "He'll live. If you co-operate."  
Matt stood undecided. Tai was only one person. There were others to consider. His other friends for a start. TK, Sora, Mimi, Izzy, Joe, Kari, Ron, Hermione, Draco. Then there were the worlds to consider. If he gave in now...  
But how could he leave Tai to suffer and die?  
"You promise you won't harm him if I do as you say?" he said slowly.  
"I give you my word," Myotismon said.  
"And will you set him and Harry free?" Matt continued.  
Voldemort frowned but Myotismon held up a hand and he remained silent. He looked at Matt.  
"I can't do that," he said "But they will be put together and be well looked after and not harmed."  
Matt looked at Tai, then Myotismon.  
"What do you want me to do?" he whispered at last.  
Myotismon smiled.  
"I'm glad you see sense," he said smoothly "It's really quite simple."  
He walked behind the throne and pulled a red curtain aside. There was an alcove carved in the rock, a little way off the ground.  
"You have to climb into that," he said.  
"Huh?" Matt said "What's that going to do?"  
"You'll see," Myotismon said "Will you do it, or not?"  
Swallowing, Matt glanced one at Tai.  
"All right, but I want to check Tai's okay before I do anything," he said.  
"Go ahead," Myotismon said.  
Matt knelt beside Tai and checked his pulse. It was steady if slightly weaker than normal. Matt took a hanky out of his pocket and pressed it to Tai's neck. The wounds had already strangely closed up, but there was still blood dripping down.  
"I hope I'm doing the right thing Tai," Matt whispered "Take care of yourself okay? I don't know if you can hear me but....our relationship means a lot to me Taichi. I don't want that to ever change. I hope I see you soon."  
Carefully, he lowered Tai to the floor, then walked over to the alcove and climbed inside. It appeared to be exactly how it looked from the outside. He turned and looked at everyone who were staring at him.  
"Place your hands at the top," Myotismon ordered.   
Matt obeyed. Suddenly, lancing pains went though them. He tried to pull them back but they were stuck there, held in place by tiny wires which had sprung out from the rock. As he watched, the tiny wires sprang out from all over the alcove, digging into his flesh, trapping him. He screamed in pain, trying to avoid the wires but it was impossible and soon Matt was enmeshed in a wire web. The pain got so bad, he passed out.  
Myotismon and Voldemort looked at the unconscious boy, hanging in the web.  
"That's good enough," Myotismon said satisfiedly "Soon, his nightmares will be made real and the valley will be well protected, more than already. And of course, there's all his energy..."  
"You shouldn't have promised about Potter," Voldemort snapped "Potter is mine to do with as I please."  
"Of course," Myotismon said soothingly "But he doesn't know that, does he? Although, I would advise keeping Potter alive. We do want to keep the boy happy so he'll keep providing the power we need."  
Voldemort nodded.  
"My plans for Potter don't include death just yet," he said with a smile "Besides, we need to know more about that Crest of Peace."  
Myotismon looked at Matt's limp body and smiled in satisfaction. The boy had been easy enough to trick and soon his plans would go ahead fully.  
Very soon....  
  
End of Part 5!  
  



	6. In the Shadow of the Valley of Death

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship  
In the Shadow of the Valley of Death  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - No. I don't own Digimon, the characters, Harry Potter or anything for that matter. The title is filched from a Marilyn Manson song. Don't panic, I don't listen to him, I just heard it somewhere *coughBlackGoddess'sbedroomcough* Anyway, I thought it would be a neat title.  
Black Goddess: Oh, you don't listen to him do you? You liar! You borrowed that album a couple of days ago!   
Me: It was for research purposes!  
Black Goddess: Yeah right. *coughLiarcough*  
Me: Look, just get back to your stories and leave me to do mine, right?  
  
Warnings - yeah, yeah. Look, I know for a fact that I'm probably going to wind up spelling at least one Digimon's name wrong. Oh, throw me a line here people, come on! I'm not exactly an expert on the attacks (what IS Gabumon's attack anyway?) so they may be wrong too. Sorry. Also, the timing doesn't exactly work if you compare it with the other one but the story will take to long if we don't do it this way. So just suspend your disbelief. Please?  
  
Taliesinmon took them to the top of the cliff and led them down a hole that led inside.  
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.  
Taliesinmon didn't answer, just kept leading them down a honeycomb of passages which got steeper and darker as they went down them.   
"I don't think I like it down here," TK announced in a small voice.  
Taliesinmon still ignored them. They suddenly entered a huge rock chamber. Digimon was walking or flying around it in great numbers. As soon as they saw Taliesinmon, they called out delighted greetings. A small round lump of mustard coloured fur with wings flew up and began to chirrup at him as the group stared around in awe.  
"Guys!"  
Turning, they saw a group of small Digimon running towards them. Draco knew who they had to be straight away.  
"Biyomon!" Sora cried from beside him and ran over the small pink bird. The others rushed over to their own Digimon. Two were left unaccounted for. They were looking around anxiously for their special friends. Draco went over.  
"Are you Agumon and Gabumon?" he asked. They nodded.  
"Where are Tai and Matt?" Agumon asked.  
Draco sighed.  
"That's a long story," he said "We'll explain when the others are finished with their Digimon. In the meantime, I'm Draco Malfoy. That's Ron Weasley, that's Hermione Granger and that's Talitha Lions."  
"What are you doing in the Digital World?" Gabumon asked.  
"We'd better explain all of this now," Sora said, coming over.  
"Yes," Taliesinmon said "You must both explain it all to each other."  
Draco quietly began the tale, noticing vaguely that everyone seemed to have adopted him as 'leader', even Ron and Hermione. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not but he told the story anyway. The Digimon listened, reacting violently to the news that Myotismon was back and had captured Tai and Matt. The little cat (Gatomon) got very upset when Myotismon was mentioned. Kari soothed her as Draco finished the story. There was a pause.  
"Now it's your turn," Sora said gently "What is this place and who are all these Digimon?"  
"They're some good Digimon who've hidden away together," Biyomon explained.  
"We've been waiting for you to come," Tentamon explained "When things started to go wrong, we knew you'd arrive."  
"Thanks," Izzy said "But what exactly's happened?"  
"Recently, something came into the Digital World," Taliesinmon explained "No one was sure what it was at first. But then Digimon began to shy away from one certain place, a valley. It used to be a haven for all Digimon but now..."  
"No one goes near it!" Biyomon piped up "Everyone says it's like death in there!"  
"The Valley of Death!" Ron said "That's what Professor Trelawney said!"  
"That's a very good name for it," Taliesinmon said softly "And that's not all. I've just heard news that a great shadow has surrounded the valley. So far, no Digimon that has entered it has come out alive. And it is slowly spreading outwards. If it continues, it will swamp the Digital World."  
"It must be Myotismon in the castle," Ron said.  
"And that means that Tai and Matt and Harry must be there too!" TK said.  
"So we'll have to go in," Draco said.  
The Digimon looked a little nervous. Taliesinmon frowned.  
"That's very reckless," he warned "We don't know anything about it yet."  
"There's not much time," Sora protested "Myotismon may decide to kill the others anytime."  
"They may already be dead," Taliesinmon countered.  
There was a pause.  
"Matt's not dead," TK said "I know he's not. I'd know if Matt were dead. I'd know."  
His lip began to quiver and Sora hugged him.  
"You can do research if you want to," Draco said to Taliesinmon "But I'm going inside the shadow or whatever it is."  
"Me too," Ron said immediately "I'm going to help if I can!"  
Hermione and Talitha nodded their agreement.  
"We aren't Digidestined," Talitha said "We aren't needed as back-up. Maybe you guys should stay here and we can rescue the others." "No way!" TK said "Matt would come and rescue me and I have to rescue him!"  
Kari nodded her agreement.  
"You may be right about the danger," Sora said the Taliesinmon "But we can't just sit here while our friends are in trouble. I know they'd try and rescue us so we have to do the same for them."  
Taliesinmon frowned and then sighed.  
"Very well," he said "I shouldn't have expected the Digidestined to do anything else. I shall take you to the shadow of the Valley of Death. But I dare not enter with you. From there, you shall be on your own."  
"Don't worry," Draco said fiercely "We'll get rid of the shadow and rescue Harry and the others. You'll see!"  
Taliesinmon nodded.  
"I have faith in you all," he said "You have saved our world before. You will do it again."  
"Thanks," Joe said.  
"I just hope you faith's enough," Draco muttered.  
* * * *  
Taliesinmon took them and the Digimon to the edge of the shadow. It was quite easy to see, a strange sort of dark bubble.  
"You can just walk though it," Taliesinmon said softly "Now if you remove the shadow, we shall come and help you defeat Myotismon and this Voldemort. But until then, you are on your own."  
He flew off.  
"Thanks for you help," Draco muttered.  
"He's not so bad," Palmon said "He found us and took us to his hide-away after you left in case you ever returned and wanted to find us."  
"So do we just walk into that?" Talitha asked.  
"I suppose so," Sora said.  
The group paused. Then, taking a deep breath, Draco walked inside the shadow.  
It was very cold inside. It appeared to have once been a jungle but it didn't look very inviting. Everything was lit with a very subdued light and it was very creepy. Shrugging, Draco turned.  
"Come on!" he whispered "It's safe enough."  
Slowly, the others walked though to join him.  
"It's not very pleasant," Hermione whispered nervously.  
"Wands out," Draco said "Those who have them anyway."  
"Well, we'd better get going," Joe said practically "Standing here's not going to get anything done." Slowly, the group began to walk deeper into the shadow.  
"It's very cold," Mimi said "And it's all clammy."  
"And it smells like fish," TK said.  
They kept walking.  
"Well, so far there's been nothing very dangerous," Ron said.  
"Well thanks for jinxing the hell out of us," Sora said dryly.  
"Sorry," Ron said.  
"Does anyone else think that they're being watched?" Joe asked.  
"You're just being paranoid," Izzy told him.  
The group continued their walk.  
* * * *  
Myotismon and Voldemort stared into the mirror Myotismon had set up. It was connected to the web that Matt was hanging it and little glimmers of blue light kept flickering around the frame.  
"They must have worked out how to use their Digivices to get here!" Myotismon said "I warned you they were clever."  
Voldemort was frowning.  
"That's Lucius Malfoy's son," he said, pointing at Draco "What's he doing with them?"  
Myotismon shrugged. He didn't know, or especially care why one boy was with the Digidestined. It didn't make a difference to him. He was going to kill them all anyway.  
Voldemort however, was more interested.  
"So the feelings Potter mentioned seem to go both ways," he said.  
Myotismon ignored him. He turned to Matt, still hung in the glittering web. Matt forced his eyes open and stared back at Myotismon, his eyes filled with rage.  
"We need to stop them," Myotismon said "Send something....interesting to delay them."  
"No!" Matt said "No, I won't do it!"  
Myotismon simply stared at him, using his mind to manipulate the web. Pain shot up Matt's body, making him gasp.   
"Fuck off!" he snarled, his face twisting with effort.   
"Why waste your energy?" Myotismon said "I'll win this little battle as I have won with your other attempts."  
Matt could feel angry tears gathering around the corners of his eyes. The other times had been bad enough, watching innocent Digimon die but these were his brother and his friends. He couldn't hurt them, he couldn't...  
Voldemort ignored everything happening behind him. He knew that Myotismon was using power and images from Matt's mind to create the shadow around the valley and the dangers inside it. But he didn't really care. He was too busy concentrating on the children. As he watched, something appeared and then began to advance on the children. One of them spotted it and pointed, her eyes wide. Voldemort smiled. This promised to be interesting.  
* * * *  
Kari stared at the upcoming creature. It was long and shaped vaguely like a train, only it was bendy, like a snake. It was covered in some sort of silvery metallic stuff. It had large legs with big splayed paws, like a very large dog. It's teeth were long and yellowy and it's eyes were small and glowering.  
"What is it?" she asked.  
The others all shook their heads.  
"The Digimon Analyser doesn't recognise it!" Izzy said.  
"Well, we can fight it!" Biyomon said.  
"Yeah, it doesn't look that bad," Agumon agreed.  
The Digimon stepped forward.  
"Should we do anything?" Hermione asked.  
"Wait until we've seen the Digimon in action first," Draco advised.  
"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon shouted.  
"Pepper Breath!" Agumon added.  
"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon called.  
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon cried.  
The other Digimon added their attacks. The monster took each one full on. Then it shook it's head and glared at them.  
"Uh oh!" Sora said "The attacks haven't had any effect on it!"  
"They need to digivolve!" Joe said.  
"Agumon and Gabumon can't," Kari pointed out "Not without Tai and Matt."  
"Then we'll have to do it!" Palmon yelled.  
"Right!" the others agreed.  
"Go for it!" Talitha called "Kick Squirmy's ass!"  
"I really hope this works," Draco mumbled. He was trying to work out how he'd be able to 'use his magic though his crest'. He watched the Digimon digivolve and try to stop the now steadily advancing 'Squirmy' as Talitha had termed it.  
"Celestial Arrow!"  
"Electro Shocker!"  
"Needle Spray!"  
"Harpoon Torpedo!"  
"This isn't working!" Izzy yelled.  
"Would digivolving further help?" Sora asked.  
"What would help is knowing what we're fighting!" Izzy snapped.  
"It looks kinda familiar to me," TK said.  
"Well, what is it?" Draco asked.  
TK shook his head sadly.  
"I don't know," he said "But I'm sure I've seen it before somewhere, that's all."  
"Well, that's not helping us now!" Joe shouted as Squirmy reached up. Swatting a paw, it sent Angewoman, Angemon and Kaubuterrimon flying though the air. Another swat did the same to Togermon, Ikkakumon and Birdramon. Agumon and Gabumon stood by their human friends helplessly, unable to Digivolve without Tai and Matt's help.  
"Quick!" Hermione yelled "We need to try some spells!"  
"We have to use them though our crests remember?" Draco snapped "Do you know how?"  
"Well, we have to try!" Ron snapped. Raising his wand, he shouted "Impedimenta!"  
This had no effect on Squirmy at all, except to make it very angry. With a screaming roar, it began to trample towards them. The Digimon evolved to Ultimate level and began to attack the creature again, trying everything. Reaching out, the creature swatted at the humans, lifting them up and sending them flying.  
"Let's get out of here!" Mimi wailed, scrambling to her feet.  
Draco had to agree. He couldn't think of anything that could even dent Squirmy. The Digimon quickly gathered up the humans and they fled, the monster chasing them.  
* * * *  
Tai was banging on the door. Harry was watching him.  
"Tai," he said eventually "Not only is that pointless, it's giving me a headache. Please stop."  
Tai stopped banging and sat down. The two had been moved into a small room somewhere. Unlike the cells, this room had limited furniture and a window. All they could see from the window was a shadowy landscape which reminded Tai of the pictures of No-Man's Land he'd seen in History class. Glumly, he looked at Harry who stared back.  
"What do we do then?" Tai asked "Sit here and wait for Myotismon or Voldemort to come and try to kill us?"  
Harry sighed.  
"There's nothing we can do," he said bluntly "We're searched every inch of this room and found nothing we can use to defend ourselves, unless you think that throwing a chair at Myotismon's head is going to do anything. There's no way out except for the window which has bars on it and the door which is locked and guarded by those Womblemon's. Banging on the door isn't going to help, except perhaps annoy people which doesn't seem advisable in the circumstances."  
Tai sighed. Instinctively, he reached up and rubbed his neck.  
"You're sure that you only become a vampire if you drink their blood right?" he said for at least the hundredth time. Harry just nodded. Tai sighed.  
"I'm sorry," he said "I just hate feeling useless, that's all. And I feel totally and completely useless at the moment. Our friends could be out there dying, Matt could be in here dying, and we're just locked in some dumb room!"  
Harry sighed. He sympathised with Tai but knew that they couldn't do anything at that moment. He was sure that Ron and Draco and the others would be on their way soon, they just had to wait, that was all.  
Unfortunately, Tai was quite clearly useless at waiting.  
Standing up, Tai began to prowl around the room again, muttering to himself. Harry just lay there, staring at the ceiling. 'Come on you guys' he though 'Where are you?'  
* * * *  
The other group were hunched under some undergrowth. The monster seemed to have gone for now.  
"We couldn't even make a dent on that creature!" Sora was wailing "It just swept our Digimon away like toys!"  
"If only we knew what it was!" Izzy said.  
Everyone just looked at him and shrugged. No one even had a clue except TK who could not remember where he'd seen it before.  
"We need to work out how to use our magic," Draco said "Without that, we're just spare parts and that's not what you guys need."  
Removing his crest, he stared at it.  
"Think about renewal again and try and do a spell," Joe suggested.  
Draco focused hard on renewing himself, becoming somebody that Harry would like and be proud of, then attempted to do the Leg Locker curse on Agumon. Nothing happened.  
"Nothing," he said gloomily "Absolutely nothing. This is hopeless!"  
"What sort of an attitudes that?" Hermione said "There has to be a way. Dumbledore said that there was. We just have to figure it out, that's all."  
There was an unhappy pause. Draco eventually stopped staring at his crest and sat, leaning against a tree.  
"Sitting here's no good," he said eventually "We need to get going."  
"What's the point of getting going if we can't do anything?" Ron demanded.  
"Well, what do you suggest? Sit here and mope?" Draco snapped "We need to rescue the others!"  
"Like you care anyway!" Ron answered "You don't even like Harry!"  
"Yeah, I'm helping you because of the incredible fun!" Draco shouted "In case you haven't noticed Weasley, I'm part of this group! I have a crest, just like you!"  
"Doesn't mean you can be trusted!" Ron yelled back "In fact, I don't trust you! I think you're probably helping You-Know-Who!"  
"Ron!" Hermione began but Ron cut her off.  
"This is probably some special plan you and your father have cooked up between you isn't it?" he shouted "You're probably doing something to jinx us!"  
"Stop it you two!" TK said "This is dumb!"  
"You have a problem Weasley, let's settle it now!" Draco said, his eyes burning with rage "I have not been conspiring against any of you! I've been trying to help you rescue your best friend in the world and you accuse me! I've got my crest to glow which is more that you have!" "And what Dark Magic did you use to make that work?" Ron flung back at him.  
"I'm not using any Dark Magic!" Draco shouted.  
"Yeah, right!" Ron said.  
"Stop it! Both of you! NOW!"  
Everyone turned to Talitha who had shouted. She was looking furious.  
"This is stupid!" she said "Abby and Dumbledore are dead, Matt, Tai and Harry are captured and maybe dead and you two are fighting! If you were using half so much energy trying to work out what to do, we'd probably have solved it by now but you two have to fight like babies in play group! Now grow up!"  
There was a pause. Draco and Ron looked at each other.  
"All right," Ron said "But I still don't like it."  
"I won't fight if he leaves me alone," Draco said.  
The two boys uneasily shook hands. Then they looked at the rest of the group.  
"We need to get going," Draco said "We have to sort out what we're are going to do, and we might as well make some progress while thinking about it."  
Everyone scrambled off and set off walking. The forest was beginning to thin out into fields which were rocky and bare. Suddenly TK gave a terrified whimper.  
"TK?" Sora said "TK, what's wrong?"  
"Don't leave me!" TK wailed "Please don't leave me!"  
"What?" Sora said, looking confused.  
"Please don't go," TK said "I'm scared! Please don't leave me! Come back!"  
"Don't be silly," Sora said, giving the others a confused glance "We aren't leaving you TK. Now come on."  
TK didn't move. He just stood there, shaking all over, begging them not to leave him. Eventually, Sora walked over and pulled him over to her. Abruptly, TK blinked.  
"That was weird," he said slowly "I don't know why but I was sure that you were all going to leave me."  
Thoughtfully, Sora put him down and walked over to where TK had been standing. They all saw her stiffen and her face crumple. Quickly, Ron pulled her out. She blinked.  
"It's just that spot," she said slowly "It made me feel like everyone I'd ever loved had abandoned me. I don't know why."  
"Let's move," Draco said. He didn't like this part of the landscape at all "The only thing I feel is exposed."  
They continued walking, Sora still carrying TK who was recovering from his fright. Joe rubbed the back of his neck which tingled again, like they were being watched. He reminded himself that he was just being paranoid and they continued walking.  
* * * *  
"So they escaped," Myotismon said "I am not surprised. You'll just have to send something else, won't you Yamato?"  
Matt had his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth gritted tightly against the pain. He was fighting the web with all his might but it was an impossible fight. Slowly, his head drooped and another strange creature began to form from the shadows.  
* * * *   
"Guys?" Mimi yelled "Here comes another one!"  
Turning, the group stared at the creature. It appeared to be a large shapeless blob and they didn't really need Izzy to tell them that the Digimon Analyser didn't recognise it.  
"Quick, do something!" Ron said.  
Quickly, the Digimon moved forward, furiously attacking the creature. The Blob simply sat there, absorbing the attacks. Then slowly a giant arm began forming out of it's ooze. The arm reached out and swung round slowly, smashing into the Digimon, who tried to dodge backwards. The creature gave a strange moan and then began to advance on the children.  
"It's happening again!" Izzy shouted "The Digimon can't make a dent!"  
The creature loomed over them. Then it began to shrink.  
"What's it doing?" Talitha asked.  
As they watched, the creature shrivelled and took on a human form. Then it's face became defined.  
"Ron!" Hermione gasped "It's...it's you!"  
Everyone stared at the New Ron. It stared blankly back, it's eyes devoid of any emotion.  
"Okay, I am completely freaked," Talitha said "That's worse that Squirmy back there!"  
The New Ron reached out and grasped at Hermione's arm. She screamed and pulled away. Where the New Ron had touched her were four bright red marks, like burns.  
"Attack it now!" Izzy yelled at the Digimon who had digivolved again.   
"Hand of Faith!" Angemon shouted.  
The attack smacked straight into the New Ron. He just turned and stared at Angemon. Then the orange fire began to gather at his fingers. Slowly, he reached up and pointed at Angemon.  
"Look out Angemon!" TK shouted as the fire threw itself back at the Digimon.  
Angemon tried to avoid it too late and the fire sent him flying.  
"Oh no!" TK wailed.  
"Look!" Joe wailed.  
Behind them was another creature. It was large and black and looked like a giant seagull with a dog's head. It roared at them. As it did, another creature arrived. Then another. And another. They made a circle round the terrified group.  
"What do we do?" Kari cried.  
The Digimon gathered round the group, trying to protect the humans even if it was useless. The New Ron stepped forwards. Shimmering, it took Hermione's form.   
"I don't like this at all!" Hermione wailed.  
Draco glanced at Ron. Both of them knew what was going to happen. The creatures were going to kill them.  
"Sorry we couldn't help Harry," he said flatly.   
"Yeah," Ron agreed. He paused as one of the Digimon was sent flying by one of the beasts "I'm....I'm sorry I said that I didn't trust you. I guess you weren't working for You-Know-Who after all."  
Draco shrugged.  
"Thanks," he said "That means more than you might think."  
Ron nodded.  
"Well, you can die knowing that I trust you," he said "If that makes you feel better."  
Draco was about to reply when a silvery white glow began the emanate from around Ron.  
"Weasley!" he gasped "Your crest..."  
"Ron, it's glowing!" Hermione cried.  
"Quick!" Draco yelled "Use some magic! Quickly!"  
Slowly, Ron turned to face the New Hermione. Raising his wand, he shouted "Impedimenta!" The New Hermione froze in place.  
"YEAH!" everyone yelled.   
"Try now!" Izzy shouted to the Digimon.   
"Flower Cannon!" Lillymon shouted.  
The New Hermione was hit hard. Slowly, she swayed and then vanished. Ron was busy throwing spells at the other monsters. Some of them ran away, others kept coming.  
"There's too many!" he yelled finally "I can't get all...."  
His voice trailed off as he stared over Draco's shoulder. Turning, Draco saw something he could have lived without.  
An absolutely humungus spider was slowly moving towards them. Draco had never seen anything like it. It was almost as tall as a small house.  
"I have an idea," Izzy said, his voice barely above a whisper "Run."  
"I like that plan," Draco agreed.  
Ron was already running away, his face green with terror. The others followed. None of them had ever run so fast in their entire lives. They could hear the spider following them.  
"Run faster, run faster!" Draco kept panting.  
"I can't keep going!" TK wailed "I'm tired!"  
Reaching out, Draco grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and kept running, dragging the boy along with him. He could see that Sora had Kari on her shoulders and Talitha and Izzy were helping each other. Hermione and Joe were keeping a fairly steady pace, as was Mimi. Ron was in the lead of the group. Obviously the giant spider was enough to keep him running for days. The Digimon were still trying to defeat the monsters that were after them, using every attack and ounce of strength that they had trying to stop them.  
"Ron!" he yelling. "Stop being such a coward and help! You're the only one who can use your magic! RON!"  
Ron kept running. Draco took a deep breath. He could only think of one thing that might get Ron angry enough to fight.  
"RON WEASLEY, STOP BEING SUCH A WUSS AND HELP SAVE ALL OUR LIVES!" he bellowed "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A PURE-BLOOD WIZARD, NOT A FILTHY LITTLE COWARDLY MUD-BLOOD! NOW GET FIGHTING!"  
This worked. Ron whirled round, his face loosing the green colour and turning white with rage. Pointing his wand, he yelled some curse. Draco ducked and it slammed into the spider which was steadily gaining on them. Ron kept shouting curses and the spider stumbled. The Digimon found some last reverses of strength and hit it. The spider dropped to the floor and lay still. Then it vanished. The other monsters turned and fled, leaving the exhausted Digimon and confused children alone in the shadows.  
* * * *  
"Blast!" Myotismon snarled "Those wretched children have escaped again!"  
Voldemort looked at the children, who were standing in a huddle, talking animatedly about what had just happened. He frowned.  
"The Weasley boy made his crest glow," he said "The Mudbloods haven't managed that yet. Neither has Malfoy's son, or at least, not enough to have been any use back there."  
Myotismon frowned.  
"Maybe," he said "But I grow tired of games. I want to finished them off!"  
"They can't get here," Voldemort said soothingly "Not now we've set up the Hall of Nightmares."  
Myotismon sighed.  
"Maybe," he said again.  
Voldemort smiled.  
"Patience," he said "The children will perish soon enough. In the meantime, let's discuss more important matters."  
Myotismon nodded. Turning, he lazily pointed at Matt. The image on the screen faded. Matt stared at Myotismon who simply stared back. Matt's head dropped and he closed his eyes.  
"Please don't make me destroy my brother," he whispered "Please."  
Myotismon ignored him. Turning, he walked away with Voldemort, leaving Matt in the web, only half-conscious, clinging to the thought that his brother had to live.  
* * * *  
"Well, we can destroy them if we work hard enough," Draco said "It's just half impossible that's all."  
"I want to know what these creatures are," Izzy said "They aren't Digimon."  
"Are they something Voldemort brought with him from our world?" Hermione suggested "I've never actually read about them but..."  
"It's odd," Talitha said "Maybe it's just the place with all the shadow's but..."  
"But what?" Joe asked.  
Talitha shrugged.  
"They just feel almost unreal," she said "They're like creatures from nightmares."  
"THAT'S IT!"  
Everyone turned to TK. His eyes were wide.  
"You remember I told you guys that Matt went to a psychologist after Mum and Dad split up?" he said (Draco poked Ron before he could say 'No,' The remark was obviously aimed at the other Digidestined) "Well, Matt had been having these really bad dreams according to Dad and the psychologist guy said that Matt should draw the things in them."  
"So what?" Draco asked.  
"Oh Draco, don't be so dense!" Hermione said "I think I know what's coming next."  
"I saw some of the pictures!" TK said "These were some of the things in Matt's nightmares! Squirmy....I remember Matt telling about him and getting nightmares of my own! The thing which took Ron and Hermione's shapes...." "Invasion of Body Snatchers!" Sora said "I remember watching that with Tai! Nearly the whole school year watched it when it was on telly that time and nearly everyone was talking about the nightmares they had!"  
TK nodded.  
"And who hasn't dreamt about a giant spider coming to kill them and their friends?" Draco asked dryly.  
"So that's what this is," Hermione said slowly "A place inhabited with all of Matt's worst nightmares..."  
"And fears!" Izzy said "That spot where we all felt abandoned! Matt's parents split up when he was little! Naturally he's going to fear being abandoned..."  
"So Matt's creating this shadow," Izzy said slowly.  
"But how?" Draco asked "And why?"  
"This is something of Myotismon's," Gatomon said "I can feel it."  
She flexed her claws angrily.  
"I'll get him," she vowed grimly.  
The group looked at each other.  
"So what do we do now?" Ron asked.  
"I have no idea," Draco answered.  
"Guys!" Biyomon called "Come look!"  
They walked over to the pink bird, then froze.  
They were standing at a cliff edge. Below them was a deep valley.   
And in the centre of it was a large black castle.  
"Myotismon's new home," Gatomon said softly.  
For a while they stood there, watching it.  
"Well, standing here won't get us there," Draco said eventually "Let's get going."  
Slowly and carefully, they began their descent.  
* * * *  
"So they have reached the valley," Myotismon said softly.  
He and Voldemort had returned to the mirror and were watching the Digidestined slowly making their way down the cliffsides, aided by the Digimon.  
"Well," Voldemort said "We'd better prepare for them, hadn't we?"  
Myotismon nodded. He turned to Matt.  
"No," Matt whispered pleadingly "Please don't. Please don't make me....aaaahhh!"  
A spasm of pain went though him. Myotismon's icy blue eyes stared into Matt's. Then he turned his back and walked back to the mirror.  
"They may be pleased now," he said "But see how happy they are when they reach the Hall of Nightmares!"  
Matt strained against the power filling his body, fighting it with every particle of strength he could find. Eventually, it all became too much. All his muscles went limp and he allowed the web to drain his mind of the images to turn the Hall of Nightmares into a death trap.  
A death trap which would soon be springing around his brother and his friends!  
  
End of Part 6.  
  



	7. The Hall of Nightmares

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship  
The Hall of Nightmares  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - Nothing. Digimon isn't mine, Harry Potter isn't mine, no infringement on copyright intended. Oh and for any astute reader who may have noticed, yes, Matt's web is loosely based on the Master's in the Doctor Who story, Castrovalva, no that doesn't belong to me either.  
  
The Digidestined looked at the castle which they had finally reached with the help of the Digimon.  
"So what now?" Mimi asked.  
"We can't just barge in," Draco said "We need to think."  
"What are those things by the door?" Hermione asked.  
"I know those," Argumon said "Those are Womblemon. They're very easily led but they're are not a good enemy."  
"Well, Myotismon's obviously recruited them, making them our enemies," Draco said firmly "Now we need to work out what to do."  
"If we take them by surprise we should be able to defeat them," Izzy said "There's only two of them. However, once we've done that, we need to decide what happens next."  
"I think we go in," Draco said "There's no point delaying. We go in and see what happens."  
"That sounds a very silly plan," Sora said "We need a real plan, not a 'Let's go in and see what happens' plan."  
"You think of it then," Draco challenged her.  
Sora sighed and Draco knew she was beaten. He knew it wasn't much of a plan but he couldn't think of anything better to do. He knew Voldemort, had met him in the summer when he'd come to Malfoy Manner. Draco knew that Voldemort would have all sorts of plans and traps and there was nothing that Draco could really think of the do anything.  
"I guess I can't think of anything better," Sora said sadly.   
"How many can work magic?" Izzy asked directly "We need to decide on our firepower."  
"Ron can," Hermione said "Draco should be able to, after all he did get his crest to glow..."  
"No, he didn't!" Sora said.  
Everyone turned to her.  
"He got my Digivice to glow and that's a whole different thing!" Sora pointed out.  
"Well, that explains a lot," Draco said "Such as why I couldn't cast any spells on the Digimon."  
"Well, that's irrelevant now," Izzy said "Only one of you can use magic so far so the others will just have to be careful."  
Hermione nodded and the group began to head towards the castle.  
* * * *  
"So they have arrived," Voldemort said "They'll be in the Hall of Nightmares shortly."  
Harry and Tai stared at the mirror where they could see their friends. They didn't understand how it worked, but it seemed real enough.  
"They'll kick your ass!" Tai said, sounding confident. Harry wondered if he was feeling as confident as he sounded. He personally wasn't certain at all. He didn't know if any of them could use magic and Voldemort would be very prepared.  
"Really?" Voldemort said, looking amused "Did Lord Myotismon tell you about the Hall of Nightmares?"  
"No," Tai said "But I don't need to know! The others'll get though it just fine!"  
Voldemort laughed.  
"Fine. Hold onto your illusions," he said "But you shall see." He raised his voice "Take them to the room we prepared!"  
The Womblemon gathered round them and ushered them away.  
* * * *  
The Womblemon barely noticed them until Lillymon zapped one of them with her Flower Cannon and Garudamon got the other with her Wing Blade.  
"Fairly useless as guards go," Draco said, thinking about the defences on Malfoy Mannor.   
Together, they walked inside.  
They entered a huge dark hall which was so long that it didn't seem to have an end.  
"Do we just keep going?" TK whispered. His whisper echoed and he winced.  
"I guess," Hermione breathed.  
Slowly they began to move though the shadowed hall.  
It was Mimi who suddenly noticed it.  
"Hey!" she cried, her voice echoing shrilly making everyone jerk with alarm "It's getting all foggy!"  
Everyone looked round and realised she was right. Mist was swirling round their ankles. Draco tried to move but despite the mists swirling form, it seemed solid round his legs.  
"What's happening?" Sora shouted.  
"Is it gas?" Izzy said uncertainly.  
"Gas!" Joe shrieked "We'll all die! I've read that poem, I know what happens!"  
The mist was rising. It was cold and damp round Draco's arms.  
"Help!" Hermione wailed "I can't get loose!"  
The mist changed to a thick fog and kept rising until Draco couldn't see anything except white swirling fog. The others shouts and yells faded and it was almost like he was alone, lost in the thick fog. Slowly, Draco began to push his way though the fog. It was like wading though sticky melted toffee. Then he paused. He could see a figure in the smoky fog...  
"Hello?" he said uncertainly "Ron? Hermione?"  
But the figure was too tall to be any of those. Uncertainly, Draco took another step forward. Then he blinked.  
"Father?" he said.  
Lucius Malfoy stepped forward, looming over Draco.  
"Father, what are you doing here?" Draco said.  
Lucius looked like he hadn't heard his son. Then he glared down at Draco. Draco shrank instinctively.  
"All this time," Lucius said, his voice sounding dark and cold "All this time, I've tried to teach you how to be a Malfoy, how to bring honour to the family name. But you were never good enough, were you? No matter what I did to you, you were never a real Malfoy..."  
Draco swallowed.  
"Father, that's not true," he said "I tried. I've always tried..."  
"You were always a waste of space!" Lucius snapped "No matter what happened, no matter how many times I beat you...must have been your mother's influence."  
Draco stared at his father, tears growing in his eyes. His father thought he wasn't good enough...nobody felt he was good enough...  
"And now I discover that you've fallen in love with that Potter boy!" Lucius snapped "I'm disgusted....falling in love with him....our greatest enemy...."  
"Father...." Draco croaked "I'm sorry...."  
But his father was fading back into the fog. As Draco stared after him, tears beginning to creep down his face, another figure walked out of the fog; Harry Potter.  
"Harry!" Draco said, trying to push his tears away "We've come to rescue you..."  
"Like I'd go anywhere with you!" Harry hissed, his face angry "You're disgusting Malfoy! You love me!"  
"No!" Draco said "Not exactly..."  
"It's disgusting!" Harry said "You're disgusting! Don't come near me!"  
"Harry!" Draco said but Harry was already vanishing and another was coming forward in his place.  
"Mother?" Draco said.  
His mother stared at him icily.  
"You've always been such a let down," she said "Always such a disappointment. No matter what I and your father did, you always let us down..."  
"No!" Draco wailed "I didn't let you down, I always did what you wanted, just tried to make you proud in my own way! Mother!"  
But his mother was fading and others were coming, other relations, his friends, all telling him that he was a waste of space, that he'd let the family name down. Draco sank to the floor, sobbing bitterly into his knees, the fog steadily thicking and swirling round him all the while.  
* * * *  
"Hello?" TK called uncertainly "Sora? Kari? Draco? Anyone?"  
But no one answered. TK stared into the fog. He knew Sora had been standing just over there a moment ago but now she was completely invisible. Reaching out his arms, he tried to find his way to one of the others. Then he stopped.  
"Matt!" he yelled joyfully, rushing towards his brother.  
Matt stepped backwards and TK stopped, puzzled.  
"Matt, what's wrong?" he asked "We've come to rescue you."  
"You!" Matt snapped, his voice harsh "What use would a little squealing runt like you be?"  
"Matt!" TK said, a wave of confusion washing over him.  
"That's it," Matt said "Start to cry, make a scene. You've always been a little pain but no, I always had to look after you, carry you around with me, keep you out of trouble, listen to you bawling."  
"M-matt?" TK said again, feeling a wave of confusion "W-why are you saying this? I'm not a c-cry-baby..."  
"Yeah?" Matt sneered "Can you say that with less conviction? I'm sick of having you tagging around after me. Always getting into trouble, always whimpering and making a bloody fuss."  
TK struggled with the tears that were trying to force themselves out of his eyes.  
"Matt," he managed "There's something wrong...you don't think that, you know you don't..."  
"Oh don't I?" Matt said "Yeah that's it. Pretend to be all-knowing when you're actually an ignorant little brat."  
Turning, he began to walk away.  
"MATT!" TK wailed "MATT, COME BACK!"  
But Matt simply vanished into the mist. TK frantically struggled after him, tears pouring down his face. He spotted another figure.  
"Tai!" he gasped "Tai, Matt's gone and he told me..."  
"That you were a sobbing little baby?" Tai said mockingly "Can't blame him."  
"Tai!" TK wailed despairingly "Not you too!"  
"Well face it TK," Tai said "Who wants you?"  
TK clutched at Tai but Tai pulled backwards, mockingly smiling.  
"TK," he said "You were always the useless member of the group. We never really needed you. You just tagged around, getting in the way. Only Matt wanted you at first, only now he's seen sense, hasn't he?"  
"No!" TK sobbed "That's not true! It's not true!"  
But Tai was already backing away, leaving the terrified boy in the fog. TK looked around desperately but all he could hear were voices, telling him that he was a useless cry-baby, that he just tagged along, that he was a wretched little squealer, was a tiny little coward. As TK sobbed despairingly, the fog thickened around him.  
* * * *  
All around, the other Digidestined were suffering the same thing. People and Digimon from their pasts loomed up, mocking them, telling them that they weren't need, that they were stupid, that everyone hated them. One by one, the Digidestined and Co. collapsed on the stone floor, wallowing in misery, self doubt and despair. Myotismon and Voldemort watched amusedly as the Digidestined were overcome by their own fears.  
"They aren't as strong as you thought," Voldemort said "My magic can defeat any children, no matter how strong they may be."  
Myotismon frowned slightly.  
"Perhaps," he said "But I have tried before and thought they were in my grasp, only to loose them. I wouldn't be so certain that you've defeated them yet."  
Voldemort snorted mockingly.  
"You are far to cautious Lord Myotismon," he said "We have them now."  
Myotismon frowned. He wasn't so certain.  
"I bore of this," Voldemort said abruptly. He turned away "They are finished. Send some of your minions in to finish them off."  
Myotismon nodded and beckoned to the Womblemon.  
"Send Asisamon in," he ordered "He'll finish them off."  
* * * *  
In their room, Harry and Tai watched in horror though a small silvery mirror as their friends dropped, overcome by their own fears and insecurities.  
"Come on!" Tai yelled "You can defeat them, you can do it!"  
Harry just stood there, his teeth gritted. Tai stopped yelling and just stared at the scene before them.  
"Come on," he whispered again "Oh come on..."  
But as the group curled themselves up into tighter balls, trying to shut out their fears, Tai's hopes began to die.  
* * * *  
In his web, Matt twisted and turned, struggling violently. He could see what was happening behind his eyelids.  
"No!" he cried despairingly.  
But he knew it was useless. He couldn't resist the web...  
No. He had to resist, he had to. Couldn't he do anything?  
Faintly, he heard TK's voice wail his name hysterically.  
TK....  
With the last tiny vestige of strength he had, Matt forced the fog away from his friends, wiping it from the room. Then he passed out, all his strength gone.  
* * * *  
Hermione was crouched on the stone floor, tears running down her face. Around her, her family and friends were mocking her, telling her how useless she was, how untalented, how all she knew were facts and figures from textbooks. Around her, she could hear faint cries and moans.  
"If only I could help them," she whispered "I am useless, they're all frightened and I can't do anything...."  
She hunched up tighter.  
"I have to help them!" she whispered "I have to...what's the use of being a witch if I can't help my friends? I'm supposed to be able to help people...."  
She shuddered all over.  
"AHHHH!" she heard TK wail.  
Gritting her teeth, Hermione tried to stagger to her feet. She had to help TK, no matter how bad she felt. It was only right....they had to be more scared than she was...  
The fog pressed down on her, the voices yelled at her...  
"NO!" she shouted "I have to help TK and the others!"  
Then the fog abruptly faded. Hermione staggered to her feet, her robes drenched with cold sweat. Slowly, the group gathered together.  
"That was..."   
"What WAS that?"  
Hermione shook her head.  
"Where did it go?" Ron whispered.  
"Um guys?" Joe said "What's THAT?"  
They all turned. Joe was pointing at a huge Digimon that was staring icily down at them. It's eyes were huge and grey-green, it's body the same colour. Standing around it were several Womblemon.  
"It looks like Fred!" Ron said.  
"Only without the charm," Hermione said.  
Slowly, the Digimon began to advance on them.  
"It's a Asisamon!" Izzy yelled "And it's nasty!"  
"Quick!" Draco yelled "Digimon!"  
The Digimon leapt forward.  
"Why aren't they digivolving!" Draco demanded.  
"It was the fog!" Hermione said suddenly "What we saw and heard....it was our fears...we're all too weak!"  
They all knew she was right. Everyone was shaking in terror and misery. The Asisamon slowly began to advance.  
"We have to do something!" Draco yelled "Ron! A spell! ANY SPELL!"  
Ron clutched uselessly at his wand, his eyes wide.  
'We're all possessed by our fears' Hermione thought, staring at the Digimon in front of her 'We have to do something!'  
The Asisamon roared.  
"ICE SMOKE!" it shrieked.  
The Womblemon dodged away from the billowing cloud that came out of it's mouth. The Digimon fell backwards, wailing in pain.   
"Biyomon!" Sora cried in horror from where she was standing.  
The Digimon staggered upwards but were once again blasted down. One of the Womblemon didn't manage to dodge fast enough. With a pitiful squeal, it fell over and lay there, struggling uselessly.  
Before Ron could stop her, Hermione rushed over, kneeling beside the injured Digimon.  
"Hermione!" she heard Izzy yell.  
Hermione ignored him.   
"You'll be okay," she said gently.  
The Womblemon smiled at her gratefully. Then Hermione heard the Asisamon snarl. Turning, she realised that it was standing over her and the Womblemon. Behind it, her friends were kneeling over their weak and battered Digimon.  
"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed.  
'I shouldn't have tried to help the Womblemon' Hermione thought 'But I had to. It was hurt and it was on the Asisamon's side! I had to help...'  
The crest round her throat suddenly exploded into light. Hermione stared in amazement. A whitish-gold light slowly pulsed from her crest, slamming into the Asisamon.  
"Hermione!" she heard Biyomon cry "You crest has given me strength! I can digivolve!"  
As Hermione watched, all the Digimon (except Argumon and Gabumon) digivolved, attacking the Asisamon with strength. It only took a few minutes before the Digimon had defeated the Asisamon. Then they all gathered around Hermione. The light was fading now.  
"It's because you felt compassion for the Womblemon!" Joe said "That's why it worked!"  
"Well I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not afraid anymore!" Kari said, sounding triumphant "Let's go find the others!"  
"RIGHT!" everyone chorused.  
They quickly ran though the hall and though the door.   
"If you please..."  
It was the Womblemon Hermione had helped. It was blinking it's curranty black eyes at them.  
"Yes?" Hermione said gently.  
"I know where your friends are," the Womblemon said "Well, two of them."  
"Which two?" Ron asked.  
"The strange one wearing the extra blue eyes on it's forehead and the one with the lighting mark," the Womblemon said.  
"Harry and Tai," Sora said.  
"Do you know where the other one is?" Talitha asked.  
The Womblemon shook it's head.  
"I was just ordered to take those two into the other room," he said.  
"Right," Draco said promptly "I, Ron, Mimi, TK, Joe and Sora will go and find Matt or the bad guys. Talitha, Izzy, Kari and Hermione will go with the Womblemon. get Harry and Tai and then catch up with us. Argumon and Gabumon, go with them. They may need protection."  
Everyone split up and scampered in different directions.  
* * * *  
Tai and Harry were standing anxiously near the door. Their friends had escaped the Hall of Nightmares. Surely now they'd come for them?  
"I want to see Argumon again," Tai said "Then we'll kick that Voldemort's ass!"  
"I want my wand and crest back," Harry said "I'm useless without them."  
"Harry? Tai?"  
It was Talitha.  
"Talitha!" Harry hissed "We're in here!"  
"I know. The Womblemon showed us the way," Talitha said "Of course, no key. Hermione?"   
A moment later, the door opened. Tai scooped Argumon up in his arms and hugged him.   
"Hey!" he said "Good to see you!"  
"It's good to see you too!" Argumon said.  
"Well, lets go!" Tai said "Let's go kiss ass!"  
"Wait!" Harry said "I want to find my wand and crest first."  
Tai frowned, then nodded.  
"Right," he said "Hey you - Womblemon. Do you know where Voldemort would have put Harry's stuff?"  
The Womblemon shook his head.  
"No," he said "His rooms maybe?"  
"Well, we'll try there," Tai said promptly.  
"Is that a good idea?" Hermione asked "Draco said that we should just find you guys and then make our way back to them. And the idea of going though Voldemort's rooms don't sound very pleasant to me."  
"Well, I'm no use without my wand!" Harry said "We've got to get it back!"  
Hermione frowned.  
"All right," she said "We'll just try his rooms and then we'll find the others."  
The Womblemon began to lead them though the twisting passages.  
* * * *   
Draco and the others slowly entered the huge hall, looking around themselves.   
"It's huge!" TK whispered.  
"Yeah," Ron agreed.  
"It's deserted," Draco said with a frown "That can't be normal."  
Slowly, the five began walking though the hall.  
"What's this mirror for?" Sora asked.  
"It doesn't go with the rest of the decor," Draco said.  
"And you'd know about this?" Ron asked, a little sarcastically.  
"My mother's been helping me with my bedroom for the past fifteen years," Draco said bluntly "You'd know what does with the decor too."  
Ron pretending to be sick and the two boys grinned at each other.  
"It's not a very good mirror," Sora said "It's all smoky grey."  
Everyone gathered round and stared. The mirror was covered in swirling smoke.  
"What's it for?" Draco muttered.  
"I don't know but it's creepy," Joe said.  
"Joe's right," Mimi said "Who'd want a mirror like that?"  
"It must have some use," Sora said "Maybe it's magical?"  
"Not really," Myotismon said lazily from behind them "It's more Digital really."  
They all turned. Myotismon was standing beside a scarlet curtain. Behind him were several Death Eaters.  
"Uh oh," Sora whispered.  
Draco swallowed painfully.  
"Draco," his father's voice said, sounding deadly "What is the meaning of this?"  
"Who's that?" Mimi whispered.  
"Draco's father," Ron whispered back.  
Draco tried to think of something to say which wasn't going to make things unduly worse. His mind was completely blank.  
"I'm waiting Draco," his father said.  
"What does it look like Father?" Draco said.  
"It looks," Mr Malfoy said "As though you are helping these Muggles and a Weasley. But no son of mine would ever do something like that. Would you?"  
Draco glanced at the others who stared back blankly. Then he turned back.  
"Yes Father," he said "I am helping them."  
He knew that his father was about to say something else and quickly took the plunge.  
"I'm not just your son Father," he said "I'm my own person and I have to make choices of my own. And I don't want to do what you've done. I'm finally following my own path and you can say what you like; it won't make a difference."  
Draco could feel his father's eyes boring into him but he continued anyway.  
"I've finally found some friends Father, people who like me, rather than who are frightened of me. I've got a purpose, a real one. It doesn't make a difference what type of blood we've got. It's all red and runny anyway. We all need to support each other. So you think what you like Father. I suppose we're fighting on opposite sides now."  
"How DARE you speak to me like that Draco?" Mr Malfoy shouted.  
"I don't know," Draco answered "I've seen what you've done to people who've upset you before. I've even helped you now I'm older. But I'm different now. I'm not afraid of you. And I'll fight to stop you killing my new friends."  
A bright blue-green light radiated from his crest. The Death Eaters and Myotismon both stepped back slightly.  
"YEAH!" Ron yelled "ALL RIGHT DRACO!"  
Draco blinked. He didn't know how he'd dared to speak to his father like that. His father wasn't going to appreciate it. But he'd made his crest glow. And that was important.  
Mr Malfoy was preparing to speak. However, Myotismon got there first.  
"Very impressive," he said calmly "Not many have the strength to do what you just did. However, you may want to reconsider the fighting."  
"Yeah right!" Sora yelled "We'll all fight you!"  
The Digimon had already digivolved and were all ready for fighting. Myotismon looked at them. Then he pulled the curtain aside. The group stared, stunned.  
Matt was there, in an alcove. He was hanging in a silvery web, which was enmeshed in his skin. His eyes were closed and his face was grey-white with a faint blueish tinge.  
"MATT!" TK cried. He tried to run forwards but Sora stopped him.  
"What have you done to him?" Joe demanded.  
"Merely used him for my own purposes," Myotismon said lazily "His loyalty to his friend meant that he was ripe for my purposes. He has meant that we have known what you were up to all along."  
"So that's how you made those things from his memory," Draco said.  
"Yes," Myotismon said "That's also how I created the Hall of Nightmares. If it hadn't been for his last act of defiance, you would have died in there, surrounded by your own fears. Yamato has been very useful." His voice harder "However, should you attack me, I shall be forced to kill him instantly."  
A ripple of electric blue power flickered over one of the silvery wires. Matt grimaced violently and jerked his head backwards.  
"Matt!" TK cried again "Matt, it's me TK! Are you all right?"  
"He can't hear you," Myotismon said "He is quite unconscious."  
TK sniffled.  
"Where are the rest of you friends?" Myotismon asked.  
The group looked at each other. None of them knew what to say.  
"I'm waiting," Myotismon said dangerously.  
"They went to look for Harry and Tai," Ron said.  
"A natural response," Myotismon said. He turned to Matt, hanging still in the web "Show me your other friends."  
Matt gave a faint whimper. More ripples of blue light ran into him and he remained still. He'd obviously used all his strength and was just letting Myotismon use him now.  
Behind them, the smoke in the mirror began to clear, swirling off to the sides. Slowly, they could see an image forming. There was a lot of interference, like a badly tuned TV but slowly it cleared and came into focus.   
"Matt!" TK wailed "Don't!"  
Matt didn't respond, simply lay still in his web. Myotismon swept up behind them and stared into the mirror. The others watched too.  
* * * *  
"This is it," the Womblemon said "This is Lord Voldemort's set of rooms."  
"Come on then," Tai said.  
"Wait!" Hermione gasped.  
She murmured a spell. The door lit up with a greenish glow.  
"What's that mean?" Tai asked.  
"That means that it's been magicked," Hermione explained "I might be able..."  
She muttered something, waving her wand. The greenish light vanished and Hermione opened the door. Slowly, the group walked in.  
"Nice depressing place," Talitha said.  
Harry looked round.  
"Where might he put my crest and wand?" Harry asked.  
"Don't ask me," Tai said.  
Harry wandered though the room, looking round hopefully.  
"Maybe he's got them with him," Kari suggested.  
"No!" Hermione called "I've got them!"  
She held out the crest and wand she'd found. Harry grabbed them and put the crest on.  
"Come on," Talitha said "This place gives me the creeps!"  
They turned to leave and froze.  
"Going somewhere?" Voldemort asked pleasantly from the doorway, twirling his wand in his hand.   
Behind him, a group of Death Eaters stood, completely blocking the door. Harry looked desperately around but there was no way out.  
They were trapped at Voldemort's mercy!  
  
Here endeth part seven.  
  



	8. The Smoky Glass

Harry Potter and the Keeper of Friendship  
The Smoky Glass  
By Starrysapphire  
  
Disclaimer - For the eighth time, I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter. Some elements are lifted from Castrovalva again (but Doctor Who fans will be glad to note that there are no crappy yells of "My web! My weeeeeeeeeeeeeb!" this time.) I own the main plot and that's about it.  
There's another CHARACTER DEATH but I'm not sure how much this one will bother everyone. I certainly was glad to see the back of him!  
Yes folks, this is it - Harry and Draco FINALLY get it together in this part! Thanks for waiting so long!  
  
Harry backed away slightly, gripping his wand. Voldemort walked into the room looking round at them.  
"So...." he said "We have Potter and his Mudblood friend, Yamato Ishida's little witch-friend and assorted Digidestined. All searching my rooms apparently. Have you found what you were looking for?"  
Harry said nothing.  
"I see you have," Voldemort said. He held out his hand "Please hand over your wands, those who have them. NOW!"  
Unhappily, Harry gave up his wand again. Hermione and Talitha handed theirs over too.  
"Good," Voldemort said.  
Then he turned to Hermione's Womblemon friend "And you - you betrayed us. You will see what happens to traitors when Myotismon gets hold of you. Now - march!"  
The group walked down the stairs and though the corridors into the great hall. The other's were already there, surrounded by Womblemon and the other Death Eaters. Myotismon was standing there too.  
"TAI!" Sora shouted.  
"HARRY!" Ron yelled.  
Tai waved at them tiredly. Voldemort pushed them over and they joined their friends. Ron grinned at Harry. Nearby, Harry saw Draco watching him. When Draco spotted Harry watching him, he gave Harry a quick smile. Then Harry saw Matt.  
"MATT!" he heard Tai yell "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MATT?"  
"They're using him to make that shadow and the Hall of Nightmares!" Draco said.  
"That explains a lot!" Izzy said.  
"Let Matt go!" Tai yelled.  
Myotismon gave him a cold look.  
"I think it's time we dealt with you all once and for all," he said "Lord Voldemort? Would you like to do the honours?"  
Voldemort smiled. He looked at them all.  
"The traitorous Womblemon first," Myotismon said icily.  
The Womblemon was pushed forwards. Myotismon reached out his hand and shouted "Crimson Lightning!"  
The Womblemon still wasn't very strong. It didn't take long before it was dead, the group watching in horror. "I think I'll start with Weasley now," Voldemort said "Enjoy watching your friends die Potter!"  
Two of the Death Eaters grabbed Ron and shoved him forwards.  
"If only Matt wasn't in danger!" Tai said desperately "We can't do anything until Matt's safe!"  
But no one could think of how to rescue him.  
"He looks half dead," Sora whispered.  
Unseen by everyone, Tentamon flew over to the web. He hovered there for a moment, thinking.  
"RON!" he heard Hermione cry behind him.  
Tentamon flew straight into the web.  
As Voldemort raised his wand, there was an amazing bang. Everyone whirled round. The web was glittering and sparking violently. Matt was crying out as the wires sprang out of his flesh but they only really heard Tentamon's scream.  
"TENTAMON!" Izzy cried.  
Behind them, the mirror exploded into smoky shards of glass. Tai launched himself over to the alcove and yanked Matt out. Matt stumbled against him, his arms looping round Tai's waist.  
"Tai?" he murmured.  
"You're safe now," Tai whispered "I've got you."  
He looked at Tentamon. As he did, Tentamon faded into black data bytes and faded.  
"Tentamon!" he heard Izzy sob.  
Tai lost his temper. Tentamon was dead because of Myotismon and Voldemort. Matt was badly injured and they were all tired. Tai had had enough.  
"ALL RIGHT EVERYONE!" he yelled "LET THEM HAVE IT!"  
Behind him, Agumon and Gabumon finally managed to digivolve. The other Digimon gathered round. Draco and Ron (who still had their wands) brought them out and watched the group warily.  
"KILL THEM!" Voldemort shrieked.   
"Everyone behind the frame!" Tai yelled.  
Pulling Matt, he leapt behind the smoking frame of the shattered mirror. Everyone else followed suit, anxiously gathering round. Sora was trying to comfort a crying Izzy while TK fussed over Matt. Tai looked anxiously at his friend. Matt had little cuts and wounds all over him from the wires. Some were quite deep and all were bleeding.  
"What are we going to do?" Hermione said "The Digimon can't hold them off!"  
Harry shook his head. Draco and Ron were using spells but neither of them wanted to kill or seriously hurt. The mirror frame would only give them cover for a little while.  
"Couldn't we use the digivices to return home?" TK asked "Then we could sort out Matt and try to get help."  
"There's no time!" Tai said "We can't leave now, we don't know what Myotismon and Voldemort will decide to do!"  
"We can't do this alone!" Joe yelled.  
Harry turned to Draco who was standing at the edge of the frame, holding his wand.  
"Thanks for coming to get me," Harry said, a little awkwardly.  
"That's okay," Draco said "I'm just sorry...."  
He paused.  
"That's it's going to end this way?" Harry suggested.  
"No," Draco said "I'm sorry.....I'm sorry that we wasted all those years fighting. That's all."  
Harry was surprised. He stared at Draco. Draco stared back. Then Draco leaned forward and kissed Harry, gently but firmly on the mouth.  
Sora and Hermione were the only ones who happened to be looking. Despite her fear, Hermione couldn't help smiled to herself. She'd been waiting for that to happen. Sora simply smiled a little and turned back to Izzy. Harry put his hands on Draco's shoulders and pulled him closer, forgetting the danger they were in and that they should be fighting Voldemort, not kissing. But he didn't care. At that moment, he didn't want to fight anyone, just to hold Draco in his arms.  
His crest flared into light, a shining silvery blue. He and Draco pulled backwards from each other, both startled and slightly embarrassed.  
"ALL RIGHT HARRY!" Ron cheered. He hadn't seen Harry and Draco kissing but it was difficult to miss the fact that Harry's crest was now glowing.  
The light from Harry's crest spread out. For a second it lingered around them, making a silver-blue corona. Then it spread out, fading as it did.  
* * * *  
Outside, the final remnants of the shadow surrounding the Valley of Death disappeared, erased by Harry's Crest of Peace. Taliesinmon watched it vanished. Then he called his other Digimon and together they began to walk towards the Valley of Death to help the Digidestined and their friends.  
* * * *  
In the great hall, things were getting increasingly desperate, despite Harry's contribution. Although the Avada Kedavra curse did not kill the Digimon, it drained their energy and they were beginning to slow down with exhaustion.  
"We're gonna lose!" Joe wailed "What can we do?"  
"Any ideas?" Draco snapped over his shoulder.  
"Matt needs medical attention!" Tai said. He was kneeling beside his friend, supporting him.  
"I'm sure it's not that bad...." Ron began doubtfully but Tai cut him off.  
"It is that bad!" he said "He keeps drifting in and out of consciousness and some of his cuts won't stop bleeding! Look at him!"  
Matt's face still had the unhealthy bluish tinge. His eyes were partly open but they weren't registering things. Tai's clothes were covered with Matt's blood.  
"Joe, you know about medical things," Mimi said.  
Joe went over and looked at Matt.  
"I think it's the repeated electric shocks or something," he said helplessly "I don't really - WOAH!"  
He and Tai flung themselves aside, pulling Matt with them, as some sort of spell flew past them.  
"Tai!" WarGreymon shouted "We can't hold them off much longer!"  
"We need the Digimon to distract long enough for us to escape," Draco said "There's no way that we can keep fighting. We're all exhausted."  
"But we can't leave!" Tai said.  
"He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day," Izzy said flatly from where he was standing "Tai, Tentamon gave his life to save us. I'm not having his life wasted. We have to get out of here, now."  
Tai bit his lip, knowing that Izzy was right.  
"WarGreymon!" he shouted "You have to distract them enough so we can escape!"  
"MetalGarurumon and I will shield you!" WarGreymon shouted back.  
"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" they heard Voldemort shriek.  
Lillymon, Angemon and Angewoman flew over. Angemon carefully lifted Matt up in his arms. Matt was completely unconscious by this time, his mouth clenched shut. They prepared to run, then froze.  
The door was blocked by what looked like hundreds of Womblemon. They couldn't escape.  
"Can't we use the Digivices?" Mimi screamed.  
"I don't know!" Tai yelled back "I don't know how you did it originally, remember? I wasn't there!"  
"We thought about the qualities in our crests!" Draco said "But there isn't TIME!"  
"Tai!"  
Tai looked over. Angemon had lowered Matt back down and gone back to the fight. TK was kneeling by him.  
"He's not breathing!" TK cried.  
Tai was at Matt's side in a moment. Matt's face was utterly white now. His mouth was clenched shut and it was clear that TK was right; Matt wasn't breathing.  
"JOE!" Tai screamed "HERMIONE! ANYBODY! DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"  
Talitha stood by the mirror frame where she'd been forgotten. Voldemort had taken hers, Hermiones' and Harrys' wands and she couldn't fight. She had been watching the battle silently, not saying anything. As she watched, Myotismon shouted "Crimson Lightning!" and Angemon went flying, slamming into the wall.  
Talitha swallowed painfully. She could hear Tai and TK's violent sobs and glanced over. A simple glance told her that Matt was dying. His lips were blue and the rest of his face was beginning to turn that colour. Joe and Hermione were trying to help but it was clear that they had no idea what to do. Ron and Draco were still fighting but they both looked completely exhausted and the spells seemed to be somewhat lacking. The Digimon were clearly exhausted as even the Womblemon's attacks seemed to be packing a great punch. Talitha could see Voldemort watching. He wasn't fighting, not getting his hands dirty. He was in clear shot for her if she just had something to throw or a wand.  
Talitha looked at the floor. Glass from the broken mirror was scattered everywhere.   
Talitha knelt down and picked up a large shard. It was very sharp and she nearly cut herself. She knew that if it hit Voldemort, it would probably kill him.  
Was she willing to kill?  
Talitha swallowed painfully and looked at the smoky glass. It seemed to stare back at her, taunting her, telling her to use it. She looked at Voldemort again. He was watching, a small smile on his face as the Digimon backed off a little more. They were nearly back at the mirror frame now. Any further and they reach it and then they'd be past it and the Death Eaters could simply kill them.  
"Matt!" she heard Tai sob.  
Beside her, Draco suddenly sank to the floor.  
"I can't!" he gasped "I'm too tired!"  
Harry knelt down beside him, his eyes anxious. Ron's face was grey but his teeth were gritted and he was obviously determined to fight to the death.   
This is Voldemort, Talitha thought. Voldemort and Myotismon. If it wasn't for their partnership, we'd have no problems, could just go home.  
"Crimson Lighting!" Myotismon shouted again.  
This time, it was WarGreymon who was sent flying back. Instead of getting up, to Talitha's horror, he de-digivolved down to Koromon.  
"I can't," the Digimon said limply "I'm too tired..."  
The other Digimon were beginning to suffer the same fate, too tired to continue.  
Talitha raised the piece of glass and took aim carefully. If she threw now, just before all the Digimon couldn't defend them, she'd have no problem hitting him. Then he'd be dead and that might distract the Death Eaters long enough for them to escape.  
The glass dropped from her hand, breaking at her feet. Talitha gave a sob. She couldn't do it. She couldn't knowingly aim to kill, try to take a life. She just couldn't....  
At her throat, the Crest of Life began to glow blood-red. It shone brighter than anything she'd ever seen. Everyone stopped, staring at the blood-red light that was gleaming around Talitha, immersing her, bathing her body in the light.  
"What's happening?" she heard Voldemort say.  
Talitha ignored him. Her eyes were almost expressionless. She walked over to kneel beside Matt's motionless body. Reaching out, she touched his face gently. Matt gave a soft sigh and began to breathe deeply. Talitha stood up. The Digimon were all staring at her. The light began to spread out, surrounding her friends in a strange blood-red bubble.  
"She's giving us strength!" Koromon shouted.  
Draco knew Koromon was right. He could feel it, strength entering him and running though his body. The Digimon were beginning to digivolve again.  
"LOOK!" Mimi shouted.  
At the door, Taliesinmon and his army had just arrived. They were watching Talitha in some awe but they were preparing to fight.  
Talitha looked regretfully at where Tentamon had met his death but there was nothing she could do. The crest could heal, it could save when there was almost no hope and it could pull back from the brink of death. But there was no power, in their world or the Digital one that could bring the dead back to life.  
Slowly, the blood-red light faded and Talitha was simply standing, blinking, looking a little confused.  
"Wow," TK whispered softly from he was standing.  
Sora nodded. The only time she'd seen anything that even came close to it was when Kari had freed the Numumon from slavery and that hadn't been anything like what had happened to Talitha.  
Sitting up, Matt gave a shuddering gasp.  
"Matt!"  
Tai threw his arms round his friend. Matt hugged him back, looking a little confused. Then Tai drew back and for a second, Draco thought they were going to kiss, but they didn't. Tai gave Matt a sort of shoulder rub thing instead and then he stood up, carefully helping Matt to his feet.  
"What's happening?" Matt asked bluntly.  
The Death Eaters and evil Digimon had been standing looking completely non-plussed. Matt's puzzled question seemed to bring them back to life.  
"KILL THEM!" Voldemort screamed "KILL THEM ALL!"  
"I think not!" Tai yelled "Digimon! GO!"  
Taliesinmon stepped forwards and raised his pipe to his lips.  
"Dazzling Web!" he shouted and blew. A web flew out of the pipe, covering several of the Death Eaters.  
"Yeah!" Sora yelled "All right!"  
Matt darted forward and grabbed Tai's arm.  
"Tai!" he said "I know how to defeat Myotismon!"  
Instantly the kids had surrounded him.  
"How?" Tai asked.  
"The mirror!" Matt said "Myotismon is still just a memory! He's real but he's really just a memory of data connected to the real world. When he linked me to the web, I saw a lot of strange things. It took me places..." He stiffened, then gritted his teeth and continued "Myotismon didn't know he was doing it, but he was creating his own undoing. The viewing mirror looks onto the ether, the space between the worlds, where data goes. That's where Myotismon went when we defeated him. The mirror directly connected to the ether which is where Myotismon belongs. The Venom-Black potion is a smaller version of that mirror. You look into it, and it shows you the ether. The thing is, Myotismon went to a dark place in the ether, the evil place. Like what happened with Apocalyamon. Because of my own anger, I accidentally gave Myotismon an anchor so he could lock himself into this world. Then he took blood from real people which helped strengthen his anchor. I freed him accidentally but I can send him back! I'll need help but I can do it!"  
"How?" Tai asked.  
"I need shards of the mirror," Matt said "One for everyone."  
Talitha ran over to the frame. She grabbed the remains of the large shard she'd had before.  
"Are these okay?" she asked.  
Matt nodded and every grabbed a smoky shard of glass. Matt looked at his piece and swallowed.  
"Use your crests," he whispered "Think about your crests and yourselves, then put part of the quality in the glass. Myotismon's anchor is all the bad things. I have to destroy the anchor."  
Everyone focused on their shard. Tai thought about when he'd attacked Myotismon, trying to save Matt. Matt focused on his time with Abby and what good friends they'd been. Sora thought about her love for all her friends and her special love for Tai which he was unaware of. Izzy thought about the knowledge that Tentamon would be glad that he'd helped them win. Mimi thought about how sorry she'd been for the others when Dumbledore had died. Joe thought about how he'd tried to save Matt, even when he'd been certain they'd all die anyway. TK thought about how he'd hoped they'd find Matt safe and sound and not hurt. Kari thought about how much she'd wanted to rid the place of the dark shadow that had surrounded the Valley of Death, to light the world again. Harry thought about how peaceful he'd felt with Draco in his arms. Ron thought about how he'd trust anyone there with his life, even Draco Malfoy, his one time great enemy. Hermione thought about how she'd run to help the Womblemon even though it was against them. Draco thought about how he stuck up for himself in front of his father, his longing to be renewed in Harry's eyes. And Talitha focused on the fact that she hadn't killed and had helped save Matt's life.  
From each child came a light, orange from Tai, blue from Matt, red from Sora, purple from Izzy, green from Mimi, white from Joe, yellow from TK, pink from Kari, blue-silver from Harry, silver-white from Ron, white-gold from Hermione, blue-green from Draco, blood-red from Talitha. The lights pieced the smoky glass they were holding, tingeing the strange smoke. Each child opened his or her eyes and stared at the glass they were holding, feeling a little surprised. Matt gripped his shard tighter.  
"Give me your pieces," he whispered.  
Everyone handed him their shard of glass. Matt swallowed. Then he pushed them together. To everyone's surprise, the edges shifted, as thought they were melting. There was a flash of light and then Matt was holding a medium sized, perfectly circular mirror in his hands. The colours swirled, mixing with each other, but keeping their own colour too. It was very strange. Matt stared at himself in the mirror. The smoke distorted his reflection like one of those fun mirrors in a fairground. Matt kept staring, picking out each colour and thinking of the quality of who possessed it. Slowly, the smoke rippled over his face in the mirror.  
The others who were watching, could see the colours reflected in Matt's eyes. He suddenly looked more peaceful than Tai had ever seen him.  
"MetalGarurumon!" he called "I need a ride!"  
MetalGarurumon bounded over obediently and Matt scrambled up onto his back, gripping the new mirror in his hands. He whispered something to the Digimon who nodded.  
"Is this gonna work?" Kari asked Tai.  
Tai nodded.  
"Yeah," he said "I trust Matt. He knows what he's doing."  
MetalGarurumon began dodging though the battling Death Eaters and Digimon, straight towards Myotismon who saw them coming.  
"Grizzly Wing!" he shouted.  
The bats flew out. Matt held up the mirror. The bats shrieked with tiny voices as they were sucked into the mirror. Myotismon froze.  
"What the....?"  
Matt sprang off MetalGarurumon's back. This was pretty dangerous as the Death Eaters were fighting all around him and one stray Avada Kedavra curse would have finished Matt off once and for all. However, they were busy with the Digimon. Myotismon stared at Matt, who stared fearlessly back. Then he raised the mirror.  
"See yourself, Myotismon!" he shouted.  
A great coloured cloud rose from the mirror and began to wrap itself around Myotismon. Myotismon gave a yell and tried to twist away.  
"I've broken your anchor, Myotismon!" Matt shouted "Dumbedore was right! You can't use me anymore! Now go back to the ether, where you belong!"  
Myotismon screamed. The Death Eaters finally turned to see what was happening but it was too late. The cloud surrounded Myotismon. There was a sucking sound, like water going down a plug and then the cloud wooshed back into the mirror.  
Myotismon was gone.  
For a moment, there was another of those strange silences as everyone stared. Matt lowered the mirror and looked at the Death Eaters. His blue eyes were deep, like oceans. He gripped the mirror tighter, staring at Voldemort. Voldemort stared back at him.  
"You've lost Voldemort," Matt said softly "Myotismon is destroyed, returned to the ether where he belongs. You can't kill the Digimon but they can kill you. We will win this battle."  
Voldemort glared at him. Matt stared back at him silently. MetalGarurumon stepped up beside him, growling menacingly. The other Digimon began to gather round Matt and the other children, looking very menacing.  
"This isn't over Ishida," Voldemort said softly "I will be revenged on you, and your friends."  
He Disapperated and the other Death Eaters followed suit. Without Myotismon, the good Digimon made quick work of the evil Digimon. Then the hall was silent for a few moments.  
"WE DID IT!" Tai yelled, leaping up and down "MATT, THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!"  
Matt grinned. He put the mirror on the floor and went to pick up TK.  
"That was just great!" Hermione said.  
"Yeah!" Sora.  
"Wicked!" Mimi agreed.  
Everyone was leaping around, cheering and celebrating. Even Izzy was joining in. Harry looked at Draco who looked back.  
"I'm sorry about what happened...." Draco began but Harry cut him off.  
"Draco?"  
"Yeah?"   
"Shut up."  
Reaching out, Harry pulled Draco into his arms and kissed him. Ron's mouth practically hit the floor.  
"What.....how....when....?" he spluttered.  
"Oh shut up Ron," Hermione said.  
Tai looked a little puzzled and then grinned.  
"Congratulations," Matt said.  
"What are they doing?" TK said, looking slightly puzzled.  
"Kissing," Matt said.  
TK blinked.  
"TK," Matt said "Do me a favour."  
"Anything," TK said.  
"Don't tell Mum and Dad you saw this. Right?"  
"Okay. But why....?"  
"I'll tell you when you're older."  
* * * *  
Sometime later when the celebrations had ended, the group were sitting on the castle roof, talking. They were quietly mourning the loss of their friends, the three who'd died; Abby, Dumbledore and Tentamon.  
"What's going to happen when we get home?" TK asked.  
"We'll have a new Headmaster," Harry said.  
"Or Headmistress," Hermione said.  
"We'll get lynched," Tai predicted "Mum and Dad will kill us for this."  
"The sooner we go the better then," Sora said "We're finished here now."  
"Must you?" Biyomon said "You've only just arrived."  
"I know," Sora said "I'm sorry Biyomon. But we have to stop our parents worrying any more than they already have."  
Biyomon nodded.  
"We have to say goodbye to Taliesinmon first," Draco said "He and his army really came though."  
Everyone agreed with this and they went down to find the Digimon. He was examining the shifting-colour mirror.  
"We've come to say goodbye," Hermione said "We have to go back to our own world now."  
Taliesinmon sighed.  
"You have saved our world again," he said "We are grateful."  
"We might not have saved it completely," Harry warned "Voldemort must know how to get in and out of this world."  
"We will deal with him if he returns," Taliesinmon said "I doubt he will. The Digimon are more than a match for him and his people."  
He lifted the mirror.  
"Take it," he said "It is yours."  
"No, we couldn't...." Matt began but Taliesinmon cut though him.  
"You have lost your protector at school, yes?" he said "This mirror will offer some protection against dangers unknown. Take it."  
Matt took the mirror.  
"Anyway," Taliesinmon said softly "I think you can use it to return home."  
They looked at each other.   
"Goodbye," Tai said to Agumon "Thanks for rescuing me."  
"Anytime!" Agumon said "You'll come back to visit, won't you?"  
Tai nodded, quickly dashing away some tears. One by one, the others said goodbye to the Digimon. Only Izzy stood aside, his face very pale. Talitha put an arm round him.  
"I'm sorry I couldn't help," she said.  
"It's not your fault," Izzy said "Tentamon would have been glad that we all survived. He died to protect us all. I should be glad."  
"But it's not that simple, is it?" Talitha said.  
Izzy shook his head. For a moment, there was silence. Then Taliesinmon brought something out from his feathers.  
"The Snake-Man dropped these," he said calmly "I believe they are yours."  
It was Harry, Hermione and Talitha's wands. Slowly, they took them and tucked them away in their robes.  
"Let's go," Matt said softly.  
They stood round the mirror, staring at the ever-shifting colours, picking out their own. Reaching down, they touched the edge. The mirror's colours glowed, then pulsed brightly. Suddenly the coloured fog cleared and they could see the Hogwarts grounds. Gripping the edge, they one by one, swung themselves though the mirror. Matt went last. As he dropped though, he pulled the mirror frame. It was rather like pulling some clothes inside out. There was a strange pop and he was sitting on the grass, the mirror on his lap. He could see Taliesinmon and the other Digimon looking at them though it.  
"Bye!" Tai shouted.  
The others waved. Then the smoke obscured it and the Digital World was lost to them once more.  
For a few moments, they all just sat there, staring into the mirror.  
"Come on," Harry said eventually "We need to go inside."  
"It's very late," Hermione murmured.  
Slowly, the group stood up and began to walk up to the school.  
* * * *  
They walked up to Professor McGonagall's office.  
"She might be asleep," Ron whispered.  
"There's a light on," Hermione said.  
"And voices," Tai said.  
Harry knocked on the door.  
"Who's there?" Professor McGonagall called.  
Harry opened the door.  
McGonagall looked up and gasped. Harry nearly gasped as well. The office was filled with people including the Weasleys, the Grangers and Draco's mother. Harry assumed that the others had to be the Digidestined parents. Professor Snape was standing in there as well.  
"Potter!" Professor McGonagall gasped, looking like she might faint.  
"Mum!" TK yelled. Pushing past, he ran over to his mother. She scooped him up in her arms, crying.  
"TK, where have you been?" she cried "I was never more worried, never!"  
"Sorry Mum," TK said muffledly "I had to help Matt."  
Mrs Weasley had swept down on Ron and Harry and was hugging them both. Harry was watching Draco over her shoulder. He was looking nervously at his mother.  
"Draco, where have you been?" she demanded.  
Draco swallowed audibly.  
"I was helping rescue Harry, Tai and Matt from Myotismon and from....from Voldemort," he said he said in a whisper.   
The look his mother gave him made Draco shrink. Professor McGonagall gently interrupted everyone's rapturous reunions before the parents could start getting angry.  
"An explanation would be nice," she said.  
Everyone looked at each other. Then Matt started, going into the story from when he, Abby and Talitha had accidentally created the Venom-Black potion, up to when he, Tai and Harry had been taken. Then Draco nervously took over, telling them about the journey though the shadow of the Valley of Death. Then Tai told the last part, the battle and the mirror. Professor McGonagall examined the mirror carefully, listening to the story. Narcissa Malfoy was not looking pleased at all, and Draco was looking very nervous. Harry walked over and took his hand. Draco looked slightly startled but gratified. Narcissa's eyes widened with surprise, then anger. Snape looked slightly shocked as well.  
"I thought all this business was over!" Mrs Kamiya said to Tai "Why didn't you say something?"  
"You would never have let us go if we had," Tai pointed out "I'm sorry Mum but we didn't have a choice. We had to help Matt."   
Matt glanced at his father and mother, then turned back to the mirror, running his fingers over the surface.  
"That's no excuse!" Mrs Kamiya said "Do you have any idea what it was like, to find a note on your pillow saying you and Kari had gone away for a few days and not to worry? I nearly died! You could have been anywhere, doing anything! And when we received an owl saying you were all in England...."  
"That wasn't a good thing?" Tai said weakly.  
"HOW ON EARTH WERE WE TO KNOW HOW YOU'D GOT TO ENGLAND?!" Mrs Kamiya shrieked.  
Tai decided then and there never to ever mention the idea of stealing money from his parents. He had a feeling that everyone else was quietly swearing that too.  
"I think that they should all go to bed," McGonagall said, interrupting Mrs Kamiya's anger "Everyone is tired and over-excited. I don't even want to think about this until tomorrow."  
They were taken up to the Hospital Wing and tucked into bed, their parents watching them. In a few moments, they were all fast asleep.  
* * * *  
A few days later, they were saying goodbye.  
McGonagall was going to be the new Headmistress at Hogwarts and needed to talk to everyone. She talked to everyone separately, getting all the little details that they hadn't wanted to give in front of their parents. She then interviewed the parents and talked to them. She gently suggested that maybe it was best if Matt was removed from the school. When Mr Ishida and Mrs Takiashi protested, she got annoyed and ripped a couple of strips off them, pointing out that Matt had felt forced into coming to the school and thanks to that, he had accidentally pulled Myotismon into the world. She had asked Matt his opinion and he wanted to go home, rather than stay. While his parents still protested, they eventually agreed.  
So now the Hogwarts group were saying goodbye to the Digidestined.  
"You take care of yourselves," Hermione said firmly "Keep in touch! I'm expecting Ryo every now and then."  
Harry nodded.  
"We will," Matt promised.  
"And don't stop studying," Hermione said "You know McGonagall said that maybe someone could come and specially tutor you so I'm expecting you to practise until they arrive!"  
"Yeah, okay," Matt said.  
"And no turning people into things," Hermione continued "And no..."  
"Hermione," Matt interrupted "I'm not going to cause havoc. I promise."  
"Well, you make sure you don't," Hermione said "TK, I'm expecting you to keep and eye on him!"  
"I promise," TK said with a giggle.  
"I'll miss you," Draco said "I can't believe I'm saying this to the boy who actually had the cheek to punch me in the face on his second day but I'll actually miss you."  
"We'll all miss you lot," Tai said "You've been great, all of you. Thanks for rescuing us and everything else you did."  
"The whole school will miss Matt," Harry said "We've never had a new pupil that caused so much excitement, not as far as I know anyway."  
"Oh I don't know," Ron said "We could probably challenge him!"  
"I doubt it!" Harry said with a laugh "All we did was fight a giant three-headed dog. That's nothing!"  
"You take care," Matt said to Draco "I don't want an owl saying that you've let you parents boss you around."  
Draco smiled slightly.  
"I think what Father would do to me would be a lot worse than that," he said "But it doesn't matter. The Weasleys have invited me to stay with them."  
"To live?" Kari asked.  
"Mrs Weasley calls it 'a trial run'," Draco said "So maybe. But I don't know how I'm going to explain this to the rest of the Slytherins!"  
"Yeah," Ron said "You're moving in with the Weasleys and dating Harry Potter. That'll be funny to watch."  
"Very ha-ha," Draco said. Harry put an arm around him and Draco smiled.  
"That still freaks me out," Ron said bluntly "I'm used to you two fighting to the death, not looking all lovey-dovey."  
Harry swatted at him. Ron dodged and grinned.  
"I'll miss you," Talitha said to Matt softly "You were a great big prat at first but you actually weren't that bad."  
Matt grinned.  
"Harry and the others will look after you," he said "You make sure to be the best witch in the year, right?"  
Talitha nodded.  
"You keep checking that mirror for trouble," Joe said.  
The Ever-Colour Mirror was hanging in the Great Hall. McGonagall had framed it using a gold frame with the Hogwarts crest on it and said it was a memorial mirror for Dumbledore. Only she, the other teachers, the Digidestined and the Hogwarts Five knew it's true purpose.  
Not that there weren't rumours. A Hufflepuff Sixth year swore that when she'd glanced in it, she'd seen Professor Dumbledore looking back at her in the smoke and several others were agreeing. But the teachers weren't saying anything and neither was the group.  
"Will our crests still work now we're in our own world?" Hermione asked.  
"Ours have," Tai said "Yours should."  
"Don't lose them!" Matt said "And make sure you don't forget what they're for."  
"We won't," Ron promised.  
There was a pause.  
"We should probably go," Sora said after a moment "Our parents are waiting."  
"Great," Tai groaned "Despite what McGonagall told them, I think that Mum and Dad have plans for grounding for about twelve years. Terrific."  
"I'm sure they won't Tai," Kari said "We were saving the world."  
"Like that'll make a difference," Tai said "No more soccer for ages. Matt, this is all your fault."  
"My fault!" Matt squawked "Where'd you get that from?"  
"You were the one who called us!"  
"Yeah well, I didn't say 'Sneak off, leaving you parents notes! That was your idea!"  
"Well what did you expect us to do?"  
"Explain?"  
Sora rolled her eyes.  
"Bye everyone," she said "We'll write soon. Take care."  
"Bye!" the others all added.  
The Hogwarts group watched as they walked towards the train that would take them to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Matt and Tai arguing furiously.  
"Those two are completely crazy," Talitha said.  
"They fight a lot," Hermione remarked "But they like each other really. Sort of like two other boys I know." She grinned mischievously at Harry and Draco who both blushed.  
"Matt would do anything for Tai and vice versa," Talitha said thoughtfully.  
Draco and Harry looked at each other.  
"Seriously though," Draco said "Do you think that Matt and Tai....?"  
"Not yet," Hermione said "They're too young. But when they're older...."  
"I'm holding you to that," Ron said.  
Hermione laughed.  
"The train's going," Talitha said, pointing.  
They waved wildly to the Digidestined who waved back equally as wildly. Tai nearly took Matt's eye out and they could see them begin to argue again even while they were waving. Hermione started laughing as the train chugged off. Talitha however, started to cry.  
"I'll miss them!" she sobbed "Matt and Abby were my best f-friends and now they've both g-gone!"  
"Don't worry," Hermione said putting an arm round her "You've still got all your other friends. And us."  
"And I bet that's not the last we hear from Yamato Ishida and Co.," Draco predicted "You mark my words. We'll hear from those trouble-makers again someday."  
Talitha smiled faintly and wiped her tears away.  
"You're right," she said "Come on. We should get back up to school."  
The five turned and slowly set off up the path back to Hogwarts.  
  
The End.  
  
  



End file.
